Assassin of the Straw Hats: Journey to the Grand Line
by Theboblinator
Summary: When Zoro isn't the only one tied up in the courtyard of the Marine base that Luffy first visits with Coby, the rubber teen gains an extra Nakama along with the swordsman. One who has his own dreams and ambitions, and who will help the crew through their toughest time on their way to the Grand Line.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Enter the Assassin, Who's That Tied up With Zoro?**

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**Author's Note Part 1: So after leaving my other stories to rest for a little while, I start on a new story for you guys. Yup, I've got my priorities as straight as a line… A curving line that is… Anyways, sorry about the wait between all my other stories guys, but at the moment I've kinda lost my will to write. So, in an effort to get myself out of the writer's block that I've placed myself in, I'm going to attempt to write this story, and get a few chapters out over the week-long vacation that I have from school. Hopefully by doing this, I'll be able to continue to write my other stories, and keep you all happy and entertained.**

**Now, for this story there are a few things that I'm going to need to tell you. The first and most important is that despite what you may read in this story, it is ****_not_**** a crossover. Many elements that I place into it might make it seem like one, or make it seem like it should be placed in a certain crossover category, but I'll explain why it's not at the end of the chapter.**

**Another thing that I should say is that there's a reason that I'm posting a new One Piece story, right beside the one that I adopted from ****kta250298****. In that one, I already have a skeleton of an outline for a character, as well as a backstory thanks to the author. So, I've started this one in order to write in some scenes of my own that wouldn't work with Kendrick, but will for my character. Something to note because of me writing this is that hopefully it will make it so that my other One Piece story is the one that I get back into first, since I'm sure you're all tired of re-reading the first three chapters with all the updates that I put in, which practically change nothing after the one that I typed up a few months ago.**

**Alright, one last thing you guys should know is that at the end of the chapter, just after the second author's note, I'm going to put in a brief overview of the new OC that I've added, since I want you guys to know some things about him, but not ****_everything_****, since that would ruin future chapters that will enable me to write in surprising things. So, here's the first chapter of my newest story!**

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**3****rd**** Person POV:**

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"This looks like the place." A teen with Caucasian skin, ebony eyes, and black hair wearing sandals, blue jeans that were folded up to act as shorts, a red button-up sleeveless-vest, and a straw hat says as he stands with a younger teen in front of a large metal gate with the word "Marines" written on it. This teen is Monkey D. Luffy, an up-and-coming pirate who's ultimate dream is to find the One Piece. A large sum of treasure left behind by Gold Roger, the King of the pirates, when he was executed. The younger teen beside him has Caucasian skin, ebony eyes, and pink hair, and is wearing white shoes with red outlines, black pants, a white shirt with blue outlines, and blue glasses. This is Coby, a teen who's dream is to become a marine, despite the fact that his new friend Luffy is a pirate, and he'd have to go after him. The reason the two are standing in front of the gates leading to a _large_ Marine base is due to the latter's dream.

"I made it." Coby says in a whisper, before putting his arm to his eyes in order to wipe away his tears… Despite the fact that his glasses are blocking him from doing so. Because he does this, he doesn't notice Luffy walk towards the brick wall to the left of the gates, and begin to climb it. "This is where you and I part ways Luffy. We didn't have long together, but-" He cuts himself off as he finally notices Luffy hanging onto the top of the wall, moving his legs in an attempt to find somewhere to place them so he doesn't fall to the ground.

"Where's the foothold?" Luffy asks, completely disregarding the fact that he's on a _wall_, and thus there isn't _supposed_ to be a foothold.

"Get down from there! What are you doing, they'll see you!" Coby exclaims, waving his arms around in the air as a small sweatdrop forms on the back of his head at the sight of his friend looking over the top of a wall into a _Marine base_, despite the fact that he's a _pirate_.

"Now where's this demon?" Luffy asks, placing a hand over his eyebrows in order to block out the sun so that he can see easier into the large courtyard that's in front of the Marine base. The "demon" that he's referring to being Roronoa Zoro, a swordsman and pirate hunter that Coby had told Luffy about on their way to this island, after the older teen had saved the younger one from a pirate ship a few days beforehand.

"They wouldn't keep him out in the open. He's probably tucked in a prison cell below ground." Coby tells his friend, the sweatdrop remaining on the back of his head due to his friend's antics and thought process. However, Luffy calls down to him not a moment later in excitement.

"There he is!" He exclaims, before dropping to the ground and running along the wall towards a different part with a smile on his face. "I'm gonna get closer." He says without a care in the world, apparently having forgotten about the fact that Roronoa Zoro was a _pirate hunter._ After a minute, Luffy pulls himself back up the wall, and looks into the courtyard. "Coby look." He tells the younger teen, making said teen climb up the wall and look at him in exasperation.

"I'm telling you, he's not- _~Gasp!~_" Coby's eyes widens as he gasps in shock at the sight before him. Tied to two wooden planks in the shape of a cross, is Roronoa Zoro. He's wearing dark green combat boots, dark green pants, a white shirt with a green haramaki tied around that, and a dark green bandana is tied around his forehead. He has Caucasian skin, and some green hair can be seen beneath his bandana, A couple ropes are tied around the horizontal wooden plank in order to keep his arms at his side, while another rope is tied around his waist to a vertical plank that's stuck into the ground. Only his feet are left untied. However, as Coby thinks about how dangerous the swordsman is, Luffy is thinking the complete opposite.

"If we untie those ropes then he could just walk away." He says with a large smile on his face as he points to the pirate hunter in question, making Coby turn to him in shock.

"Oh, don't be such an idiot Luffy! There's no telling what a bad man will do if you let him go! He might just kill us both!" Coby exclaims in shock at his friend's suggestion, but also in horror of what might actually happen if Luffy went through with it. When he does this, his head grows to be three times its normal size, and his teeth change to take on the shape of sharks'. However, Luffy just turns back to the tied up pirate hunter with a large smile on his face, completely disregarding what his friend is saying, and what's happening to him. After all, in this world, it's a normal everyday occurrence depending on the situation.

"Don't worry, I'm strong. I can protect us." He reassures his friend. However, it does the complete opposite.

_He's lost his mind!_ Coby cries out in his mind, before another voice speaks up.

"Hey you two." Roronoa Zoro says from his place tied to the wood. He's still looking at the ground, so it's likely that the only way that he knew they were there was because of their voices. "You're an eyesore." He continues, before looking up in order to glare at them. "Get lost." He tells them, making Coby freak out once again and try to talk Luffy out of doing what he said he would after he arrived on the island. Get Roronoa Zoro to join his pirate crew. However, Luffy isn't paying attention to what his friend is saying, and is instead looking at the _second_ person that's tied up in the courtyard on the swordsman's right.

This person is obviously male from their physical appearance, and looks like he's around 18 years old. He has on brown boots that are folded so that they reach his mid-calf, and partially cover the light brown pants that he has on. He has a white and blue long-sleeved T-shirt shirt on his upper-body, with a white hood that covers the entire upper part of his face. Although since he's tilting his head down, Luffy can't see _any_ of his face at the moment. There's some dark blue padding stitched into the arms and forearms of his shirt, and he's wearing a brown vest over said shirt. He has on three brown belts that go over his clothes in different areas. One around his waist, another that wraps around his upper-body from his right shoulder, down to the left side of his waist, and then back around his back, and a final one that acts like a regular belt, and wraps around his hips. The belt around his hips has an extra attachment on the teen's left hip, which is stitched into the belt, and has a loop in it that makes it seem like there's supposed to be something that goes through it. **(AN: For those of you who recognize this and see the changes I've made, good for you. For those of you who don't know, just wait until the end of the chapter.)**

However, Luffy is brought out of his observations when a little girl places a ladder against the wall, and climbs up next to the two teens. This girl has Caucasian skin, azure eyes, and brown hair tied into two pigtails. She's wearing black slipper-like shoes, and a dress-like shirt that has purple and light blue horizontal lines across it. She looks at the two teens on the wall, before putting a finger to her mouth and going "Shhh." After she does this, she looks both ways, before lowering a rope, and sliding down it onto the ground below… On the other side of the wall.

Then she turns around, and starts running towards the two people tied up in the courtyard. This makes Coby's eyes widen, as he lets out a gasp at the sight. "Gah! Luffy we've gotta stop her otherwise she'll be killed! Either by the Marines or the demon himself… Or that other guy! If he's tied up, then he must be just as bad as Roronoa Zoro!" He yells at the teen leaning against the wall beside him. However, the older teen does nothing, and instead watches as the girl stops in front of the two teens tied up in the courtyard. Roronoa Zoro and the other teen look at the girl as she stops in front of them with a large smile on her face, and when the other teen raises his head, it allows Luffy to see from the man's nose down, and make out that he has Caucasian skin.

"What do you want?" Zoro asks the girl in what appears to be annoyance, but the girl's smile doesn't falter.

"I thought you might be getting kinda hungry now, so I made you a couple of rice balls." She tells them in a cheerful voice, closing her eyes so that her smile seems larger than normal.

"Do you have a death wish kid? Just scram." Roronoa Zoro tells the girl with disbelief in his voice as she reveals a bundle in her arms, and unwraps the cloth to reveal two rice balls, one for each teen.

"Here. I never really made them before, but I did my best so I think they're fine." She tells them. Luffy is able to hear the conversation going on, and then he notices something that makes him start to think. When the girl tells the two teens this, the other one, the teen who isn't Roronoa Zoro, gives a barely noticeable smile to the girl. However, Zoro's eyes widen, and he starts to worry for the kid when she says this. Just when he's about to say something, the other guy kicks his leg, making the pirate hunter look at him in surprise, before the teen who kicked him speaks up for the first time since the conversation began.

"Rika." The guy says, getting the girl's attention and revealing her name. "I'm sure that Zoro here appreciates your concern just as much as me. But you're putting yourself in danger by being here with us. How about I make you a deal?" He asks.

"A deal?" The Rika asks him in confusion, making him raise his head a bit more to reveal his cobalt eyes beneath his hood, and give her a nod as the small smile remains on his face.

"Yup. The deal is, you'll go back to your mother at your diner, and leave me and Zoro until our deal with Helmeppo is done. Then, me and Zoro will go to your diner, and you can serve us all the rice balls you want." He says, before his smile widens a bit more, but only barely. "That way, you'll be safe, and you can make up for all the food that we'll have missed out on over the next ten days." He tells her, and Zoro watches as the teen beside him twists the conversation he was having in order to get the girl to safety. Rika seems to think about it for a moment, and just as she's about to answer, the iron gate to the tied up teens' left opens, and a man walks in flanked by two marines. This guy has Caucasian skin, ebony eyes, and blonde hair. He's wearing black dress shoes, purple dress pants, and a purple tuxedo over a pink button-up shirt.

"Now what have we here?" He asks, walking right over to the three and smiles down at Rika. However, it's not a comforting kind of smile.

"Hey look, now there's another weird guy." Luffy comments, making Coby give a nervous smile in response.

"That's great, he must be with the Marines. Now we know the girl is safe." Coby says to Luffy as the man in question leans over a bit to look at the rice balls in Rika's hands.

"Looky, some tasty rice balls." He says, before snatching one of them from her hands and taking a large bite out of it. The girl turns to look at him in surprise in response to his actions.

"Hey! That's not for you!" Rika exclaims. However, the man simply ignores her, before letting off a surprised yell with his mouth still closed.

"Ah! Too sweet!" He exclaims when he opens his mouth, and then turns to look at Rika, one side of his mouth bulging due to the rice still present in his mouth. "They're packed with sugar! You're supposed to use salt you idiot, salt!" He yells at her causing Zoro and the other teen to narrow their eyes at him.

"But I… I thought they'd taste better sweet..." Rika responds with an upset look that would make almost any person immediately apologize and try to make it up to her. However, this man was not one of those people.

"Give me that!" He exclaims as he grabs the other rice ball before throwing it down onto the dirt ground with the rest of the other one, and then stomps on them, making Rika fall to her knees in front of him with tears in her eyes.

"No! Stop! I worked so hard!" She yells as he continues to stomp the leftover rice balls into the ground, Luffy and Coby watching this happen from the wall. Finally, the bastard of a man finishes rubbing the rice into the ground, and Rika looks at what's left with tears in her eyes.

"But I- _*Hic*_ Worked so hard to make those. _*Hic-Hic*_" She sobs, the bastard responding by placing one hand on his head.

"Too bad." He says with fake sympathy. "You must've not read the notice that was posted." He says as he pulls a piece of paper out of his clothes, and holds it out in front of him in order to read it. "Those who assist criminals in any way will be _executed_, signed Marine Captain Morgan." He reads, making Rika give off a startled gasp as she stiffens up, and continues to stare at her leftover food, while the teen beside Zoro turns his head to full-on glare at the bastard as he laughs. "It _seems_ even little _brats_ fear my daddy." He says, shocking Coby as Luffy simply questions the fact that he called his Captain Morgan his "daddy". Things only get worse as the bastard points at one of his Marine escorts. "You, toss this kid out right now." He tells him, making the Marine give a startled gasp. When he doesn't do it, the bastard turns around and grabs the front of his shirt. "I _said_ throw her over the wall soldier. Now if you won't follow my orders, I'll tell my father." The bastard says, finally getting a response.

"Y-yes sir! I'll do it!" The Marine exclaims in panic, making the teen beside Zoro narrow his eyes as the Marine walks over to Rika, who's now standing and looking at him in fear.

"No!" She cries out as he stops her from running.

"I'm sorry about this. Try curling up into a ball." He suggests in a quiet voice, surprising her at the fact that he's giving her advice, before he picks her up and tosses her over the wall, Rika screaming all the way. However, Luffy protects her from getting hurt as the bastard laughs in the courtyard.

"Damn you." Zoro says to him as he walks in front of him and the other man.

"You two are just _dead set_ on staying alive, aren't you?" He asks them.

"That's right, and we're gonna make it through the month without any problems." Zoro says to him, showing that he knew the teen beside him well enough to include him in that sentence.

"Right, good luck with that." The bastard says as he starts laughing again, and walks out of the courtyard with his Marine escorts.

"Only ten more days left!" Zoro calls after them, the teen beside him nodding in agreement. He would normally speak up at a time like this, but doing so my have consequences… Just not for him or Zoro.

"Oh, you two still assume you'll _make it _to the end of those ten days!" The bastard yells back at them, before going on to laugh hysterically once again as the iron gates behind him and his escorts close. A couple minutes later, the two teens are resting, but look up when they feel the presence of another person. What they see is Luffy standing in front of them, not that they know his name.

"So I hear you're a bad guy." Luffy says to Zoro, not really looking at the other guy.

"You're still here?" Zoro asks in confusion and annoyance as the teen beside him stays quiet since the teen wasn't talking to him yet.

"You and your friend are stuck out here for all the world to see and _nothing_. Are you two really all that strong?" He asks them.

"Why don't you mind your own business?!" Zoro exclaims, but Luffy ignores him as he walks closer to the two teens with a sigh, the one beside Zoro simply continuing to watch the conversation taking place in front of him.

"If I were you, I'd probably _starve_ to death in three days." Luffy admits with a smirk as he turns to the side and places a hand on his straw hat.

"I've got more spirit than you could ever have." Zoro retorts, before giving a large smirk of his own. "Which is how I'm going to _survive_ this ordeal. This I swear." I says, the teen beside him finally contributing to the conversation and giving his own nod of agreement.

"Heh, what a couple of wierdos." Luffy says with a slight laugh as he turns around with a wave. But before he can leave, Zoro speaks up once again.

"Wait hold on." He stops the teen, before looking down at the leftover rice on the ground. "Could you, pick that up for me?" He asks.

"You're gonna eat this?" Luffy asks, looking at the clump of rice held together by mud and dirt. "Cause it's mostly a ball of mud." He states, only for Zoro to yell.

"Shut up and give it to me, now!" He exclaims, a slightly crazed look in his eyes no doubt due to his lack of food. In response Luffy looks at him in surprise, before tossing some of the rice into Zoro's mouth. Then, as the pirate hunter eats the food, he turns to the other teen who barely manages to give a shrug because of the ropes tying him to the wood, and opens his mouth. Luffy tosses some of the mud-rice ball into his mouth, and he silently eats it as Zoro begins to cough at the dirt and mud in the rice ball that he'd eaten.

"Should've listened to me." Luffy says as if he's stating the obvious. However, Zoro speaks up once he's finished with his coughing fit, the teen beside him quietly swallowing his own food.

"It was good. Thanks for the food." He thanks the teen, making Luffy smile as the other teen speaks up.

"Yeah, make sure to thank Rika for making them for us." He contributes, before he lowers his head to stare at the ground, once again hiding his face from view in the shadows of his hood as the teen turns around, and climbs up the rope that Rika had used, and then makes his way over to her and Coby. As he'd doing this, Zoro and the other teen start to doze off, and begin to think of the past. While Zoro thinks of memories from his childhood, the other teen begins to think of a situation that happened only 21 days ago, not knowing that in the town down the mountain, Rika was telling a certain duo about the same event, just from a different perspective…

***Flashback***

_Inside a small diner sits the teen that was tied up next to Zoro. However, he isn't tied up, and he has a cutlass sheathed at his side, which shows that it's what's supposed to go through the loop on the belt at his hips. It's not your typical cutlass, as it's longer than your average one, and less curved as well. In fact, it looks more like a curved katana. He's sitting next to Zoro, when all of a sudden, the door bursts open, and what looks like a rabid dog comes barging in, and starts to eat food off the tables. Suddenly, Rika grabs a broom, and runs over to it, and then starts swinging at it. "Stop it you mean old thing!" She exclaims, just as the bastard from before walks in with a sword resting on his shoulder._

_"__You, little girl, is there a problem with how my beloved dog is behaving?" He asks her, obviously being sarcastic as he gives a smug smile. When he asks this, Rika stops swinging the broom, and a women calls over to her from behind the lunch counter._

_"__Rika put it down! You don't want to get us in trouble!" She calls out, making Rika step back slightly, just as the dog stops eating the food and turns to look at her. Suddenly, it lets out a growl, and lunges towards her, making her cry out in fear. However, before the dog can get to her, two bar stools fly at it, __**~Crash!~**__ and knock it out of the air and into a table a few feet away. Everyone in the diner turns to look in the direction they came from, and sees the teen and Zoro sitting at the counter, drinking from their mugs of whatever drink they're having. When Helmeppo turns to look at them, he immediately starts to yell._

_"__Who the hell are you two?!"He cries, before stopping and pointing his sword at them. "Wait a minute, it's you! Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro!" He exclaims, choosing to ignore the other guy for now since he doesn't know who he is._

_"__And if I am?" Zoro asks him as Rika runs off to the woman who was behind the counter, showing that she's most likely the girl's mother._

_"__What is a pirate hunter doing defying the Marines huh?!" Helmeppo complains, swinging his sword, but not actually trying to hit him._

_"__Why don't you shut up and let my friend here enjoy his meal in peace? He's not that fun to deal with when he gets annoyed." The teen beside Zoro says sarcastically as he places his drink back on the counter. However, Helmeppo decides that he doesn't want to leave Zoro alone, and swings at him with a yell. Zoro simply leans back, making the blonde bastard hit the counter instead, and then kicks the sword upwards so that it gets stuck in the ceiling. The bastard's terrified yell is cut off by a punch sent to his cheek by the teen that was sitting beside Zoro, and he impacts the counter. When he looks up, it's to the sight of Zoro pointing his katana at him, while the teen has unsheathed his cutlass and has it at pointing the guy's chest._

_"__You're getting on my nerves pal. You _and_ that precious mutt of yours." Zoro tells him with a glare, before the teen beside him speaks up._

_"__And the fact that you were just going to let that mutt attack an innocent little girl irks me as well." He says with his hood up, but not hiding the anger present in his eyes. "So give me one good reason not to stab your cold heart _besides _the fact that said little girl is standing a few feet away." He says with a harsh voice, making the bastard stutter for a few seconds as he looks at the swords, before he starts to laugh a bit as he looks off to the side._

_"__You do realize that if my dad finds out about this, he'll surely execute the girl _and_ her mother." Helmeppo says with a smug smirk, making the two people in question hold each other even more tightly. "So what do you two say to a little deal between men?" He asks, pushing himself up as the two step back slightly to keep their swords from skewering him, but keeping them ready just in case. "In place of the kid and her mom, we string _you two_ up instead for, say, one month. That's one of you, for each of them. If you _survive_ that one month, then I'll be so kind as to let you two live as well. What do you say? Sound fair?" He asks the two in front of him. Everyone's silent as the two seem to think about it, share a glance, and then speak at the same time as they focus back on the bastard._

_"__Then one month it is." They reply, and drop their swords, allowing them to become stuck in the ground. A few minutes later, their swords are in Marine possession, and their being tied to the wood planks in the middle of the marine courtyard. Over the next three weeks, the two were punched, and kicked by the bastard, all without the two retaliating. However, over those three weeks, the two got to know each other even better than before and shared stories. Then came the day that the teen in the straw hat showed up…_

***End Flashback***

While the teen remembers this, he's completely ignorant to the straw hat wearing teen in question standing in front of him. However, he's able to refocus when he hears people talking. "You again? Don't you have things to do?" He hears Zoro ask, and looks up to see the teen from before standing in front of them.

"I'll untie you, but only if you guys promise to join my crew." Luffy says, confusing the two teens. "I run a pirate crew and I'm looking for people to join up." He says as he walks closer to them, making Zoro smirk slightly.

"No way. I'd never stoop to joining up with a criminal. Screw that business" He says as he looks away. However, the teen beside him looks at Luffy with interest.

"And what's so wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy asks.

"They're despicable, like I'd ever want to join up with one." Zoro replies.

"Ah come on, give me a break. Everyone already knows you as some vicious bounty hunter, always out for blood." The straw hat wearing teen says with a smirk.

"People can say whatever they want about me. But I've never done a single thing in my life that I regret." He says, before he gives a smirk of his own. "I _will_ make it through this challenge, and after that, I'll accomplish what I want." He says, the teen beside him smirking at his confidence.

"Yeah, that's great." Luffy says, before turning to the side with a smirk as he crosses his arms. "But I've already decided that you two are going to be on my crew." He tells them as if they have no say in the matter.

"What, you can't do that!" Zoro yells as the teen beside him simply smirks at the straw hat wearing teen's behavior.

"I hear you're one of the best swordsmen around." Luffy comments, making Zoro start to defend himself.

"Well I am. But that idiot captain's son took mine away." He tells the teen.

"The guy took mine as well." The teen beside him comments idly, and Luffy smiles in response.

"Well I guess I'll just have to go get them back then." He says, shocking Zoro while the teen beside him simply smirks. "So if you want your swords, you're just gonna have to join my crew!" Luffy exclaims with a large smile.

"Now you're really pissing me off!" Zoro yells as the teen next to him simply chuckles lightly at the situation he found himself and his friend in. Then, Luffy starts to run off, apparently ready to get their swords back. "Wait, he's actually gonna bust in there alone?" Zoro asks himself.

"Apparently." The teen beside him comments. "Hey kid! The entrance to the base is the other way!" He calls out, making Luffy stop and look back at them in confusion, before he smirks.

"**Gum Gum… Rocket!**" Luffy calls out as his arms stretch to impossible lengths, grab the wall on the opposite side of the courtyard, and he pulls himself towards the base, utterly shocking Zoro as the teen beside him looks on in interest.

"What… What the hell is this guy?" Zoro asks in confusion.

"I don't know. But one thing I do know is that if we _do_ end up on his crew, then from my observations, we'd be in for one helluva adventure." He comments, before the two fall silent as they watch the kid scale the wall, and get onto the other side, where the Marine base is. They stop watching a few minutes later, and simply decide to wait and see what happens. However, they're attention is brought back to the base once again when they suddenly hear a loud **_~Smash!~_** However, they're unable to see what caused it because it happens behind them. "Guess that guy is causing a ruckus in there." The teen beside Zoro comments idly. Before anything else can be said, the two notice the pink haired teen that was with Luffy running over to them, before he reaches them, and begins to attempt to untie Zoro.

"You have to get out of here Zoro." He says, but Zoro simply looks at the kid like he's crazy.

"That maniacs gonna kill you right now for what you're doing!" He tells the kid. However, he apparently isn't listening as he focuses on freeing the swordsman.

"I can't stand to watch the Marines behave like this anymore." He says with a determined look on his face. "A true Marine should be honorable." He says, making Zoro look at him in surprise, as the teen beside him smirks.

"Look kid, we can't leave! We've got ten days left. And then they're-" However, Coby cuts him off.

"Well not quite, they're gonna execute the two of you tomorrow." He says, shocking Zoro as the other guy scowls.

"Damn it. And here I was giving that bastard the benefit of the doubt." He mutters, moving his arms a bit for reasons unknown. "Well, I guess if that's the case, then I can say whatever the hell I want about him, and I don't have to just nod my head to go along with whatever you say Zoro." He tells the pirate hunter beside him.

"Helmeppo never intended to honor your agreement. He planned on killing you from the start. Which made Luffy really angry, so he just punched him right in the face." Coby tells them, making the teen beside Zoro smirk as he continues to move his arms.

"Good for Luffy. He did what I've wanted to do for the past three weeks." He comments.

"Now that the Marines are mad, they're dead set on capturing Luffy." He says, before turning to look at Zoro. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to become a pirate though. But I hope you'll help him. You have a lot of strength you can offer." Coby tells Zoro, and then turns to the other teen. "And Luffy seems to think that you have a lot of strength too. So I hope that you'll at least think about helping him." He says, before he notices the smirk on the teen's face.

"Heh, don't worry about that. With what Luffy's doing right now, it seems like me and Zoro here are gonna be joining his crew. As much as he seems like an idiot, he seems to have a few good ideas of how to get us to join." He says, referring to how Luffy had told them he'd get their swords if they agreed to join his crew. However, everyone's attention is brought to a new voice that speaks up.

"End of the line." They hear someone say, and turn to see a whole squad of Marines standing in front of a large man with an axe in place of his right hand. This was Marine Captain "Axe-hand" Morgan. The man is wearing brown boots, which partially cover the pants he's wearing that have dark and light blue stripe-like patterns on it. His shirt is dark blue, and he has a light blue Marine captain jacket over it. "For the crime of treason against me, I sentence you three to _die _where you stand." He tells them, making Zoro look at him in shock, Coby start to freak out, and the other teen to simply scowl as he moves his arms at a faster pace. He puts the other events happening out of his mind as he focuses on the task at hand.

_Come on… Almost there… I just need another minute._ He thinks to himself, before he hears the sound of guns firing, and he refocuses on the Marines in shock at the sudden sound. What he sees are spherical bullets being fired at him and the other two, before Luffy suddenly appears in the way of the bullets… And they _bounce _back at the Marines.

"See ya!" He exclaims, all the bullets flying past the Marines or burrowing into the sand, one even flying inches by Morgan's head. As this happens, he starts to laugh, and Zoro and Coby look on in shock while the teen beside the pirate hunter simply let out a sigh of relief as he continues to move his arm. "Ha-ha! That won't work on me! Told ya' I was strong!" Luffy yells, Coby and Zoro still looking on in shock.

"What the… Who the hell are you?" Zoro asks Luffy, making him turn around to look at him.

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy. And I'm gonna be king of the pirates." He says with a large smirk as well as a thumbs up.

"_You're_ going to be king of the pirates? Right, you must be completely out of your rubbery mind. Do you have any idea what that means?" Zoro asks with a look of disbelief.

"Yeah, king of the pirates means king of the pirates. How could it mean anything else other than that?" Luffy asks him as if it's obvious, surprising Zoro at the casualness of how he said it, while the teen beside him simply chuckles as he continues to move his arms.

"Yeah, when he first told me it was shocking. But he's completely serious." Coby says, making Zoro and the other teen look at him. "That's how he is I suppose. Cause he actually has every intention of becoming king of the pirates." He continues, before turning to look at the two tied to wooden planks. "And obtaining the world's ultimate treasure, the One Piece!" He exclaims, making Luffy give a wide grin as he chuckles. Then, he takes the four swords that were tied to his back the entire time, and holds them out to the two teens still tied up.

"Here's what I promised you guys. There's four. I couldn't tell which were your guys, so I just took all of 'em." He tells them, making the teen beside Zoro smirk.

"The cutlass is mine. As for the other three…" He trails off as he glances over at Zoro.

"The three katanas belong to me. I use the three sword style." Zoro says with a blank look on his face. Luffy responds with his own blank look, before he smiles as he offers the three swords to Zoro, while tossing the cutlass to Coby. The pink haired teen let off a surprised yelp as he juggles the cutlass after he fails to catch it, before finally getting a hold on it.

"Well, just take them already. Just know that if you fight with me now, you'll be a government defying villain. So, it's either that, or you're left out here and killed by the Marines execution style." He says, making Zoro smirk at the teen in front of him.

"What are you, the son of the devil?" He asks Luffy. "It doesn't matter, cause if I don't choose your side, I'll just end up dead on these stakes. So let's do it." He agrees, making Luffy smile.

"Ha-ha! So you're finally gonna join my crew! This is the best thing ever!" He yells as he starts to do a weird dance.

"Would you quit celebrating already and get these ropes off me?!" Zoro yells at him, making Luffy stop dancing, and do as he said.

"Come on, hurry." Coby encourages Luffy.

"They've got these things on tight." Luffy complains as he pulls at Zoro's ropes.

"Come on, quit screwing around!" The swordsman in question exclaims. Meanwhile, unnoticed by everyone, the other teen's ropes snap apart around his arms, and he starts to rub the ropes that bind him between his waist and chest with his wrist. However, Luffy apparently manages to _tighten_ the ropes around Zoro instead of loosen them, and the swordsman starts to panic as the Marines charge them with their swords drawn, yelling out battle cries.

"Give me one of my damn swords now!" He yells at the rubber teen.

"Gah, Luffy look!" Coby cries out in alarm, causing everyone but the other teen that's tied up to look at the charging Marines. Then, just as Coby gets ready to be cut to pieces **_~Clang!~_** He hears the sound of metal striking metal. When he looks up, it's to the shocking sight of the two teens holding the Marines back. While Zoro is holding two of his swords in his hands, and another in his mouth to block the Marines' swords, the other teen is blocking a few other Marines with his cutlass, and what appears to be his _hand_. However, if the younger teen were to look closer, he might notice a metallic knife jutting out of the older teen's sleeve just beneath his wrist.

"Make one move and you die." Zoro says, despite having a sword in his mouth, making some of the Marines cry anime tears.

"He's scary." One complains, making the other teen glance over at him.

"Heh, if you think he's scary now, just don't insult him or his swordsmanship. You do that, I guarantee that you won't be leaving here alive." He says, making the rest of the Marines their holding back start to cry anime tears at the thought.

"Today I officially become a criminal, having fought the Marines. So I'll become a pirate, that I can promise you. But I want you to know one thing. While I'm with you the only thing I dedicate myself to is fulfilling my ambition." He tells the rubber teen, while the Marines are still held back.

"Which is?" Luffy asks Zoro.

"To be nothing less than the world's greatest swordsman. If somewhere along the way I have to give that up, then I want you to accept responsibility. After which, I want you to apologize to me." He says with utter seriousness.

"The world's greatest swordsman. Sounds pretty good. The king of the pirates wouldn't have anything less than the best on his crew." Luffy says in response, making Zoro smirk around the sword in his mouth.

"Big talker. From this point on no matter if I'm a criminal or not, I will spread the name _Zoro_ throughout the world!" He declares, making the teen beside him smirk at his friend's ambition. However, Captain Morgan decides to speak up at that point.

"What are you all standing around there frozen for?! I want you to kill all four of them now!" He yells, scaring the Marines surrounding the four even more, before Luffy speaks up.

"You might wanna duck." He says in a sing-song voice as he pulls back his leg, making Zoro's eyes widen, before him and the other teen duck. "**Gum Gum… Whip!**" Luffy yells as he stretches his leg, and kicks all the Marines away from the two.

"Yes! You knocked them all down!" Coby yells as Morgan looks on in shock, and Zoro and the other teen stand up and look at Luffy.

"Wanna tell me what you are?" Zoro asks him.

"I'm just a guy who ate the Gum Gum fruit." Luffy says casually.

"What's a Gum Gum fruit?" Zoro asks.

"My guess is that Luffy is living proof that those Devil Fruits you told me about exist, and that he's now a rubber person." The other teen comments, before turning to look at the teen in question. "Well, I guess that since Zoro's joining, then I will too. I'll say this much, with how my life has gone so far, I'm joining since I have a feeling that this will end up being one wild ride. As for my ambition, it's always been to find the greatest treasure that I could. After all, before I ran into Zoro, you could say that I was a bit of a treasure hunting Jack-of-all-trades. So, I'll help you find the One Piece. That way, you'll become king of the pirates, and I'll have the satisfaction of having found the world's greatest treasure." He says, making Luffy grin and start laughing again.

"Ha-ha! Great! Then you can be my first mate!" He exclaims, making Zoro turn to look at him with wide eyes.

"Hey, why does he get to be first mate?! I joined first!" He exclaims, making Luffy turn to look at him with his smile still in place.

"Because he's agreeing to help me find the One Piece. You want to be the world's greatest swordsman." Luffy says as if it's obvious, making Zoro turn to look at the other teen, who gives him a sly grin that tells the swordsman that he'd planned this.

"Never try to get one over on Miles D. Jackson." He says simply, before they all turn and look at the Marines that had been yelling fearfully at Captain Morgan. What they see is the Captain's eyes are shadowed, before he starts speaking to his men.

"This is a direct order. Every Marine that just spouted weakness, pull out your gun and shoot yourself! I can't do _anything_ with weak soldiers!" He exclaims, making the Marines look at him in fear, while Zoro and Jack simply scoff, and get ready to face the squad of Marines.

"What babies. This'll be easy." Zoro comments, before Luffy goes running past them.

"Luffy! Bring those Marines crumbling to their knees!" Coby yells, despite the fact that _he _wanted to _be_ a Marine. However, Luffy simply runs through the crowd of Marines, before lunging forwards in order to punch Captain Morgan, who manages to block it with his axe hand. Off to the side, Jack smirks.

"Gotta love Anime Law #10" He mutters to himself, before Captain Morgan starts yelling again, stopping anyone from questioning what he was talking about.

"Wreckless low life bums! You have _no right_ to defy my superiority!" He yells as he throws off his Captain's jacket, while Zoro takes his sword out of his mouth to watch what's happening. "I am Marine Captain Axe-hand Morgan!" He yells at Luffy, who simply stares at him with a blank face.

"And I'm Luffy, Nice to meetcha." He says, making Morgan attempt to attack him, only to miss twice, and split the ground in half as if an earthquake had come through the courtyard. When Luffy dodges the second time, he stretches his feet while he's still in the air, and kicks Morgan away. Utterly shocking the Marines that are watching the battle. Luffy continues to shock the Marines as every time Morgan attempts to attack him, he simply dodges before kicking the Captain away. Jack watches this happen with a smirk while he sheathes his cutlass. Then, Luffy starts to punch the captain as he reprimands him for destroying Coby's dream. However, a new voice joins the commotion, and Jack turns around to see Helmeppo holding Coby at gun point.

"Straw hat, stop right there!" He yells, but Luffy just continues to punch Morgan. "Are you stupid or something?! I said stop! If you would pay attention to me, I have a hostage here you might wanna look at!" He yells, his legs shaking as he points his flintlock at Coby's head. Zoro looks over his shoulder at Luffy, who's still punching Morgan.

"Hey." He says, getting Luffy's attention and making him look at the blonde bastard.

"If you value your scrawny little friend's life, you won't move a muscle! I'm serious, one move and I'll shoot him I swear!" Helmeppo exclaims, making Luffy look at him with a blank face, while Coby trembles and whimpers slightly. However, any further commotion is stopped as Helmeppo suddenly stiffens up slightly, before falling to the ground. _That_ gains everyone's attention, as they look at Jack, who's standing over the fallen Helmeppo.

"Be glad that I didn't give you a mortal wound… You bastard." Jack says to the blonde bastard at his feet, who has a red splotch growing on the back of his clothes. However, the shocking part is both how he got there without anyone noticing, as well as the fact that his sword is _still sheathed_. Meaning that he just took care of Helmeppo without using it. When Luffy sees this, he jumps over to stand a few feet away from Zoro with stars in his eyes as Coby looks at Jack with relief.

"Whoa~~~! That's so co~~~ol!" Luffy exclaims, not noticing as Morgan stands back up with his axe hand reared back over his head.

"Times up! For I am fearless Marine Captain Axe-hand Morgan!" He exclaims. However, instead of Luffy turning around to attack him again, this time it's Zoro as he lunges forwards. The Captain's axe hand is stopped inches above Luffy's straw hat, and he smirks as he turns to look at Zoro as the swordsman lands back on the ground.

"Nice one." He says with a smile as Morgan collapses to the ground with blood spurting out of the new wounds on his chest.

"I'm just doing my job, captain." Zoro replies with a small smirk, making Luffy's smile widen as Jack suddenly appears by his side.

"Captain Morgan's been beaten!" A random Marine yells.

"Unbelievable, those guys are unreal." Another one comments.

"If there's anyone else who wants to step forward to fight us, then do it now." Zoro says, making the Marines look amongst one another… Before they start cheering.

"That's weird, looks like they're all _happy_ that their Captain was beaten." Luffy says in confusion, while Coby's eyes widen.

"They must have been afraid of him for a long time before we showed up!" The younger teen yells with a smile as he understands that Morgan must have been a tyrannical ruler to the Marines of this base. However, his smile disappears as Zoro and Jack Suddenly stiffen, and then fall to the ground.

"Zoro! Jack! What's wrong, are you okay?!" Coby cries out, making the two open their eyes.

"We're okay…" Jack tells Coby in a hoarse voice.

"Just… Hungry." Zoro continues, before Luffy and Coby help them up, and they start off toward the town, and a certain girl and her mother, in a certain diner.

* * *

"Woo, I am _stuffed_." Zoro says with a large smile, before leaning back in his chair to pat his stomach. "Having not eaten for three weeks, I was ready to gnaw through my bootstraps." He says, making Rika, her mother and Coby laugh, while Jack simply nods beside him, taking another bite of one of the many rice balls that Rika had made them. Meanwhile, Luffy takes another forkful of food.

"I've gotta agree with you there Zoro. I might have made that deal with Rika, but I'm not entirely sure how much longer I would have been able to last without that rice ball of hers." He says, making the young girl blush at the compliment, and look down at the plate she was holding as her mother gives her a proud smile.

"Heh, I can't believe you're finished. Lightweights." Luffy says, making Zoro look at him with skepticism, as well as surprise while Jack simply chuckles beside him.

"How can you be more hungry than two guys who haven't eaten in three weeks?" He asks, making Jack look over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Zoro, Luffy told us that he's a rubber man. That should tell you that _everything_ about him is rubber. Including his _stomach_." He says, making the swordsman stiffen as he realizes that he hadn't thought of that.

"Oh… Right." He says lamely, making Jack smirk as he shakes his head a bit and chuckles.

"Thanks for fixing this for us." Coby thanks Rika's mother off to the side of the pirates, referring to the food that she had made for all of them.

"It was my pleasure. After all, you guys did save the town." She replies with a smile. Meanwhile, Rika is standing next to Luffy with a large smile on her face.

"You're the greatest man that I've ever met!" She exclaims, making Luffy smile at her.

"Yeah I am, I know. I'll be even more amazing when I'm king of the pirates, and I have the One Piece." Luffy tell her with a full mouth, no modesty present in his sentence at all, before he turns to look at Zoro and Jack. "Oh, and the best crew on the seas." He says, making the two smile.

"So, how many others have you gathered for your crew besides me and Jack here?" Zoro asks as Luffy takes another forkful of food, and looks up at them in slight confusion. "You told me that you were in the middle of gathering a crew for your ship. If you're gonna be king of the pirates I've gotta assume that you have _some_ waiting in the waves." He elaborates.

"Nope, just you two." He says, making Zoro go wide eyed as Jack simply shrugs his shoulders, and finishes off his last rice ball.

"Just…" Zoro trails off as he points to the three of them sitting at the table.

"Yup, it's just us." Luffy confirms.

"So you, Jack and I are what amount to an _entire_ pirate crew." Zoro says in disbelief.

"What's wrong with that? We're some pretty strong guys." Luffy says as Zoro rests his elbow on the table while Jack simply chuckles in his seat as he leans back, interlocks his fingers behind his head, and places his feet on the table with a smirk on his face.

"Well, I wouldn't say that I'm _strong_. I simply know what to do in order to get situations to turn out positively for me." He admits with a light chuckle.

"Okay, but _please_ tell me you have a ship." Zoro says to Luffy, and the rubber teen smiles as he points out the window with his fork towards the harbor.

"Sure do, right there." He says, his fork pointing towards a loan dingy sitting at the harbor. Zoro stands up in order to get a better look at it, and gets a deadpan facial expression when he sees it.

"You're kidding…" He deadpans, making Luffy smile.

"Nope, but we'll have an _enormous _one before long, just you wait and see." When Luffy says this, Zoro turns around and starts laughing.

"And how's that? " He asks, only for Luffy to completely ignore him as he takes another bite of food.

"With a great big pirate flag on top…" He says, no doubt daydreaming about his dream ship. "I can't wait." He says with a smile, despite his mouth being full of food. Zoro simply places his head in his hand while Jack sits off to the side, lightly chuckling in amusement at the entire conversation.

"I think that Luffy was born without that part of the brain that allows the rest of us to plan out what we have to do." Coby comments from the counter with a light laugh, making Zoro groan.

"I can't _believe_ I let myself get suckered into having _him_ as my captain." He says in disbelief.

"Hey, we'll have a ton more crew members in no time." Luffy tells him with a smile, before Rika turns to look at him with a smile.

"Luffy, where are you and your crew planning on traveling when you leave here?" she asks the straw hat wearing teen, making him turn to look at her.

"You mean it's not obvious? We're heading straight for the Grand Line!" He exclaims, making Coby do a spit take at the counter, and turn to look at Luffy like he's crazy.

"No! Have you completely lost your mind?! You're only three crew members, there's no way you're ready to handle the Grand Line Luffy!" He cries out, making the teen in question, along with Rika, turn to look at him.

"I've heard about it, but I never knew it was such an awful place." The girl says, making Coby look down at his now half-empty glass.

"It's worse than you think… Some call it, the "Pirate Graveyard"…" Coby tells them, trembling a bit by the end as Rika's mother speaks up.

"I've heard stories about it from people passing through. The customers say that no one who has entered the Grand Line has come out of that place alive…" She says with a small frown, while Luffy simply listens with a smile.

"Which is really too bad, since that's where the One Piece is said to be, and that's exactly where we're going." He says with determination, making Jack and Zoro smirk as the prior puts his feet back on the ground, and the latter sits back down in his seat.

"I guess we have to live with it." Zoro comments, making Jack's smirk widen as he nods.

"I guess so. Well, I did tell you that we would no doubt be going on adventures, didn't I Zoro?" He asks the swordsman, getting a nod in response as Coby jumps off his seat to look at them in fear.

"No! You can't agree!" He shouts confusing the two teenagers.

"What do you care? You're not going with us are you?" Zoro asks Coby, making the teen lean back slightly.

"No, but I can still worry… Is it so wrong to _care_ about the three of you?" Coby asks them, placing a hand over his heart as he asks this. "Luffy and I haven't known each other for years or anything, but I still consider him a friend. Wouldn't you say?" Coby asks Luffy, getting a large smile in response.

"Of course! We may have to part ways, but we'll always be friends." Luffy responds, making Coby smile in partial relief.

"Also, shouldn't you be concerned with how things are going to turn out for yourself?" Jack asks Coby, making the younger teen look over at him in confusion. "You were telling us earlier about how you want to join the Marines, right? Well, from what _Luffy_ told us, you were stuck on a pirate ship for a while. With how the Marines are here, I'm pretty sure that they'd be able to find out. That or you might accidentally let it slip at some point if you end up talking about your past." He elaborates, making Coby look at him in surprise when he realizes that he's right.

"I… Never thought of that…" Coby says in realization, before the doors to the diner are opened, and a Marine walks in, drawing the attention of everyone in the establishment.

"Hey, you there. We've heard that you fellas are actually pirates, is that true?" He asks Luffy, Zoro and Jack. In response, Luffy gives one of his large smiles.

"That's right, and I just added the first two members to my crew. So pretty much, the whole thing just became official." He responds, making the Marine officer nod.

"We appreciate everything you did to save our town from that horrible tyrant who terrorized us all for so long. However, now that we know that you're pirates, as Marines we cannot sit idly by and watch you go about your business. Therefore, you and your crew will need to leave this town immediately." He tells them as he adjusts his hat, before he looks back up at them. "But out of respect for what you've done, we will not report you to headquarters." He tells them, getting arguments from the townspeople outside and inside the diner in response. However, Luffy simply smiles and stands up in response.

"Well, time to go." He says, before turning to look at Rika's mother. "Thanks for all of the food lady." He thanks her, making Rika speak up.

"Hey wait a second, you're leaving already?" She asks the straw hat wearing teen.

"Yeah." Luffy replies simply, before him, Zoro and Jack start to walk out of the diner, leaving Coby to stand by the counter and look at the spot that they'd previously occupied. However, the Marine officer from before calls out to them as they near the door.

"Hold it! Is he with you or what?" He asks, referring to Coby as the teen in question stands stiff in the middle of the diner. Luffy stays silent for a moment, before looking over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face.

"What I _can_ tell you is what he's been busy _doing_ up to this point." He says to the officer, making Coby turn around to look at him in shock at the thought of what Luffy might do. However, he does just that as Jack picks up the bag of food that Luffy placed on the floor.

"Yeah, there was this fantastically fat pirate lady, I think her name was Alvida." He says, shocking Coby at what the older teen was saying as he walks over closer to Coby. "She carried around this _huge_ iron club and _boy_ she was the nastiest looking woman I've ever seen. For two years _this_ wimpy kid was her own private cabin boy." He continues, the Marine officer listening to Luffy in silence with a blank look on his face as the rubber teen pokes Coby in the head to emphasize his point. However, at that point Coby snaps, and much to the shock of Rika, her mother and the Marines… He punches Luffy right in the face. However, Zoro and Jack simply give unnoticeable smirks at the sight. However, Luffy looks back at the younger teen with a large smile after he's punched, and he pulls his fist back.

"Now that was a dumb _move_." He says, throwing a bunch of punches forwards, all of which hit Coby until the Marine officer speaks up again.

"Get out of here now! We can't have you pirates dirtying up this town any more than you already have, you hear me?!" He calls, before Zoro walks over and grabs onto Luffy's shirt to stop him from punching Coby any more.

"Enough, you've made your point. Now let him fall to the ground." He says, Coby doing just that a few seconds later, panting as his face is littered with scuff marks from the punches that Luffy gave him.

"It's obvious you're not crew mates so stop badgering the poor kid and take your leave of this town this instant!" The Marine officer yells, pointing to the door as he does so.

"Yeah, let's get outta town _captain_. After all, we're not gonna get to the Grand Line staying here now are we?" Jack asks with a smirk. Luffy simply gives one last small smile to Coby, before he nods, and leaves the diner with Zoro and Jack. A few minutes later, the newly established pirate crew is nearing their "ship", and Zoro speaks up.

"That was a thin act you put on back there. I wouldn't be surprised if they see right through it." He comments, making Luffy chuckle a bit.

"Coby should be able to handle the rest on his own, I have faith in him." The rubber teen comments, making Jack smirk right beside him.

"Well, it is a fitting way to leave this place. Unable to turn back since everyone hates us now. Very pirate like." Zoro comments, making Luffy laugh as he unties the dingy from the harbor.

"Yeah, sure is." He says, before a familiar voice speak up a few yards away.

"Luffy!" It cries out, making the teen in question, as well as the other two at his side, turn to look in its direction and see Coby standing there with Rika and her mom. Then, the younger teen puts a hand to his head in a salute. "I can never thank you enough! You've done more for me than anyone ever has!" He exclaims, making the three older teens smirk at the sight.

"I've never heard of a _Marine_ thanking a _pirate_ before. Heh, that's one for the history books." Zoro says with a chuckle, Luffy laughing beside him in agreement as Jack chuckles.

"No kidding. It's gotta be a first. Or possibly second. History was never my greatest subject." Jack admits with a small smile. Then, the three get in their dingy, unfurl the sail, and set off from the Island. The rubber teen standing near the back and waving as they leave the Island behind.

"We'll meet again Coby! Someda~~~y! See ya!" Luffy calls out with a large smile, Zoro and Jack simply smirking from their opposite seats on the boat, before they all notice the Marine forces of the Island walk up behind Coby, and giving an identical salute to the one the young teen is giving them.

"Well, if a single Marine saluting a pirate crew was one for the history books, then I'd say that a whole _squad_ of Marines saluting our pirate crew would be enough for us to have bragging rights." Jack says with a smirk, Zoro giving one in return as Luffy simply gives his signature laugh, before making his way to the very front of the ship, and placing a hand on his hat to keep it on his head.

"At last our pirate crew finally sets sail!" He exclaims in excitement.

"You know, I've gotta agree with you Jack. I feel some interesting adventures are in store for us." He says, making the teen across from him on the boat smirk and nod in response, while Luffy simply give another laugh, before starring off into the distance.

"I'll be king of the pirates… I know it." He says, making Zoro stop smirking as he looks at Luffy in partial confusion.

"You seem more than obsessed with this "king of the pirates" business. Is there some kind of story behind it or any kind of reason at all?" He asks the straw hat wearing teen, getting Jack's attention as well as he turns to look at the straw hat wearing teen with his swordsman friend.

"No." Luffy replies simply. "No reason. Just…" He trails off, making Zoro speak up again.

"Just what?" He asks, making Luffy's smirk widen somewhat.

"I promised someone, a while back. I swore that I would gather a crew and find the world's greatest treasure. And become king of the pirates. This straw hat knows the whole story." He tells them, rubbing the straw hat in question that's on his head. Zoro and Jack simply smirk at one another in response to Luffy's explanation, before looking at the sky.

"I see." Zoro replies, Jack nodding beside him as he continues to smirk before Luffy speaks up again.

"Now, let's go! It's time to set our heading, for the Grand Line!" He yells as his two other crew members' smirks widening into smiles as they watch their captain get worked up about their adventures to come. Already knowing that they were in for a helluva ride.

* * *

**Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, I hope that you liked the first chapter of this story. As for why my OC was mostly silent through the thing, that's because I'm trying to slowly work him into the Straw Hat crew, so that I can eventually get to a point that I feel like he belongs, and you guys might actually be able to see him in the anime or manga. Speaking of which, I'm using the anime for this story, as well as my other, adopted, One Piece story.**

**Now, for those of you who have noticed all the little references that I've put into this chapter that make it seem like it should be in a crossover category. I'm going to tell you why it ****_isn't_****. The reason this story is not a crossover with Assassin's Creed, is because I'm only taking a few weapons, as well as outfits from the game. Maybe even a few other things as well. However, because I'm not taking any of the ****_storyline_**** (Meaning Assassin's VS Templars storyline) from the game, I don't see the reason to make this a crossover.**

**As for Jack's outfit, it was a slightly modified version of the outfit of Edward Kenway on the cover of "Assassin's Creed Black Flag". I figured that since I'm taking some things from the game, then that would be the best outfit. After all, what better outfit for my Assassin character in One Piece, an anime about ****_pirates_****, than the outfit from a ****_pirate themed_**** Assassin's Creed? Anyways, here's the brief overview of my OC I promised. However, be warned that it is very, ****_very_**** brief. After all, I don't want to give away that much to you guys. I want you to slowly find out about him as the story progresses.**

**Name: **Miles D. Jackson

**Age: **18

**Appearance: **Caucasian skin, Cobalt eyes, Black hair that is styled to look like it's always messy. Jack does not have any noticeable scars, however his clothes cover almost the entirety of his skin.

**Outfit: **Modified version of Edward Kenway's clothes from the cover of "Assassin's Creed Black Flag". Jack has changed the outfit slightly to exclude the red sash around his waist, and he has also moved the position of the Hidden Blades so that they are underneath his shirt, instead of over it. After all, they aren't very "hidden" if they're out in the open now are they?

**Weapons: **At the moment, the only weapons that Jack has revealed he has is his Hidden Blades, as well as his Cutlass. It is unknown at the moment if he has any others.

**Background: **Unknown. Jack's past is not known at the moment, but some of the things that he says confuse the other two that he travels with. One example of this is when he occasionally refers to "Anime Laws".

**Well, I think that's about all I have to say for this Author's Note, so thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Introducing Buggy, a Clown without Scars**

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**Author's Note Part 1: Well guys, here's the second chapter finally. Now, in this chapter, I'm changing things around from canon in a few places. We all know how in the manga/anime, Luffy launches himself up to the bird right? Well, because of what I have planned **(Sorry DarkLord98 and possibly Anime PJ)** I'm instead making it so that ****_Jack_**** is the one that's going to be launched towards the bird.**

**Something that you guys should know about this story is that I'm actually reading another One Piece fanfiction series called "Another Nakama" by ****QPython****, and I'm looking it over for ideas that I could write into this. The reason that I'm doing this is because ****QPython**** is ****_incredible_**** at writing out his story and making Ricky, the main character, appear like he could ****_actually_**** be in the manga/anime, so in order to make ****_Jack_**** seem like he could do this, I've decided to look over the work of one of the best writers that I've seen. Also, if you guys are reading this story right now, then I suggest you also read theirs, since like I've stated above, they do a fantastic job of writing it out in extreme detail.**

**Now, I don't think that I told you guys this last chapter, so I will in this one. Unlike my other stories where I base chapters off episodes, I'm instead going to write out this one with at least 2 episodes per chapter. Now, the reason I say "at least" is because there will be situations that I ****_will not_**** write out. The reason for this is because unless my OC is going to affect it in some major way, I don't see a reason to write out scenes from the manga/anime, since you guys should have already read/watched it, and know how it goes. (The beginning of last chapter was a slight exception since I was introducing Jack in a different way then I normally do in my other stories.) If not, then just go ahead and search the episodes up online for points that I don't write out.**

**But, I think that's about it for this Author's Note, so I'll let you guys get to reading the second chapter, and the introduction of the Orange Town arc!**

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**3****rd**** Person POV:**

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"Ugh! So _hungry!_" Luffy complains as he leans over the boat that served as his crew's current "pirate ship". Zoro is leaning against the side of the boat across from him, while Jack is leaning against the back of the boat, his legs crossed and fingers interlocked behind his head as he looks at the other two members of the crew.

"When are we gonna reach _land_ anyway?" Zoro asks, his voice filled with annoyance at the fact that they'd been drifting for the past few days… As well as the fact that Luffy had eaten their entire food supply two days beforehand.

"Who knows? Just sailing on the wind and the waves, going wherever they take us. We might not even reach the land… Eh, I guess we will someday." Luffy responds, surprising the other two as they turn to look at him with wide eyes… Well, Zoro does, Jack simply raises one of his eyebrows at his Captain's comment.

"Don't you find it dumb that someone trying to be king of the pirates doesn't have a single navigational skill?!" Zoro yells at the straw hat wearing teen.

"Not really, I just drift around." Luffy admits, making Jack chuckle off to the side as the First Mate closes his eyes and faces the sky. "What about you? Aren't you some famous bounty hunter who sailed the seas?" Luffy asks as he turns around from staring at the water to look at the Swordsman of his crew.

"I don't have any recollection of calling myself a bounty hunter." Zoro replies to Luffy's question, before leaning against the side of the boat again as he tilts his head back to look at the sky with a sigh, copying what Jack's doing in the back of the boat. "I set out onto the open sea in search of just one man, and then I couldn't get back to my village." He admits, watching as the clouds pass overhead. "By that point I had no other choice than to go after pirate ships to learn a living." Zoro tells them, making Jack speak up in the back of the boat.

"Well, it couldn't have been all bad. I'm sure that you at least ran into a few pirates who might have given you a _little_ trouble at the beginning of your journey. That at least made you stronger didn't it? And you met me." Jack asks as he lowers his head to look at Zoro with a smirk, making the Swordsman smirk a little as well as he nods to the raven haired teen.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point there." Zoro agrees, once again proving Jack's conversation skills as he makes Zoro's journey seem worthwhile even if he couldn't get back home… Of course, Luffy has to ruin it a second later.

"Oh I see, so you're just lost." The straw hat wearing teen comments, making Zoro turn to him in annoyance as he slams his foot onto the deck.

"Hey! Don't put it like that!" He yells as his eyes turn white and his teeth take on the characteristics of a shark's. However, these traits quickly disappear as the force of his stomp causes the boat to rock, surprising everyone onboard as Luffy and Zoro let out startled sounds, while Jack grunts a bit as he manages to keep himself in place by shifting his weight each time the boat rocks. However, everyone's attention is quickly drawn to the straw hat that's suddenly thrown off Luffy's head, and into the air.

"Oh no. not my Shank's hat!" He exclaims as everyone watches it be pushed by the wind into the sail, and float further up into the air, due to the cloth stopping it from being blown out into the water right away. As this happens, Luffy lets off slight horrified sounds at the thought of losing it as visions the man who gave it to him flash through his head. Luckily, a flash of white, blue and brown appears at the side of his eyes, before the Captain and Swordsman watch as the First Mate skillfully climbs the mast, and snatches the hat before it can be carried by the wind over the sail, and into the water. Then, he leaps off the mast, and effortlessly lands on the deck, without shaking the boat as he does so.

He looks at the hat for a moment, before handing it to Luffy, who's staring at his First Mate with gratefulness clear in his eyes. "Careful not to drop that again Captain… I can tell it means a lot to you." Jack says as he sits back down on the deck and leans against the back of the boat once again. Luffy gives him a smile in return as he sits down at the same time as Zoro, before he looks down at the hat in question, this time memories of the event that caused him to receive it going through his mind. After a few minutes, Zoro turns to look at him in slight worry at his silence.

"Hey Luffy… Luffy." He says, trying to get the Captain's attention. "Hey, you're gonna drop that again. I thought it was important." He comments, making Luffy put the hat back on his head, the straw somehow acting like rubber as it bends when he pushes it down on his head with a smile on his face.

"It is." He says as he looks at the Swordsman, before turning to Jack. "Thanks a lot." He thanks the First Mate, getting a smirk in response. However, Zoro suddenly tilts his head back with a groan as he stares up into the sky once again.

"Ugh, I'm so _hungry_. It's killing me." He complains, making Luffy stare at him, while Jack simply stares up into the sky. However, his attention, as well as Zoro's, is focused on one thing in particular, which Luffy notices as well when he tilts his own head to look into the sky. "Hey look, a bird." Zoro comments, making Luffy look at him a few seconds later with a wide smile.

"I know, let's eat it!" He exclaims, making Zoro look at him in confusion, while Jack gets a thoughtful look on his face.

"Huh? How are we gonna catch it?" The Swordsman asks, making Luffy give another one of his trademark smiles.

"Just leave that to me." He tells the green haired teen, before standing up on the deck and stretching his arms up onto the horizontal parts of the mast. "**Gum Gum…**" Luffy trails off, but just as he's about to launch himself he feels a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he sees Jack standing there.

"Hold on Luffy. Think about it, if you launch yourself, then either you could miss, or you might be successful, and bring the bird down in the water. But either way, you're gonna land in the ocean, and then you won't be able to move. We can't have the future king of the pirates die before he _becomes _king of the pirates, can we?" He asks, making Luffy smile.

"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that! Thanks Jack!" He exclaims, getting a chuckle from the teen beside him in response.

"No problem Captain. So, how about you launch me up there instead. Even if one of the two things from before happens, I'll at least be able to swim back to the boat so we can try again, or if I get the bird, then you guys can row over to me so that we can make our lunch." He says.

"Yeah!" Luffy agrees, watching as Jack scales the mast once again, before he's standing on the very top, not even swaying as the boat continues to bob in the waves.

"Alright Captain, I'm ready when you are." Jack says, making Luffy laugh.

"Alright! **Gum Gum… Ballista!**" Luffy suddenly lifts his feet off the ground. Allowing his hands and arms to pull him upwards towards the mast. Due to his speed, Luffy hits into Jack's back hard enough to shoot him towards their target in a way that's reminiscent to an arrow in, well, a ballista. However, the straw hat teen is smart enough, this time, to keep holding onto the piece of wood, allowing him to stay on the ship, and fall onto the deck as him the Zoro watch as Jack's shadow gets closer and closer to the bird… Until his shadow suddenly stops moving when he hits it, the bird not falling when he flies into its side.

"Huh?" Zoro asks in confusion as him and Luffy continue to stare up at the sight, before the Swordsman suddenly notices that the First Mate's shadow is smaller than the bird's… Meaning that their depth perception was wrong, and that Jack was now caught by the bird's talons. "You idiot!" Zoro yells at Luffy, slamming his fist onto the rubber teen's head before he grabs his oars and starts rowing with all his might after their friend. Meanwhile, Luffy leaps back up onto the mast, keeping a tight hold on it as him and Zoro fly across the water due to the latter's strength.

**(Quick note: Most of what's about to happen here with Zoro and Luffy was actually present/based on what happened in ****Qpython****'s story, but I just found the events hilarious. So, credit to him for most of the following scene.)**

"Come back here bird! I want to eat you… And save Jack!" Luffy yells, making Zoro turn to glare at him as he continues rowing.

"Saving our friend is an afterthought?!" He yells as his teeth once again take on the appearance of a shark's. However, he's distracted from that thought when he suddenly hears frantic screaming and turns to look over his shoulder to see three men waving their arms around frantically in the water as they try to get the Swordsman's attention.

"Hey look, there's three people there…" Luffy comments as if it was something he saw every day. In response, Zoro gives an annoyed growl, before looking back over his shoulder at the men.

"I can't believe that we found drifters at a time like this… I can't stop, you're just gonna have to jump in!" Zoro yells at them, making the three men stare at him in shock up at the suggestion, right before Zoro starts rowing past them. However, the three manage to grab onto the boat, and scream in fear as they desperately climb onto the deck. When this happens, Zoro gives a slight smirk. "I'm actually impressed you managed to climb on board." He says, making the three men look at him in anger.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" They all yell at the same time, before the supposed leader of the three draws his sword and looks at the green haired man currently rowing the boat.

"Stop the boat right now. The three of us are members of Buggy the clown's pirate crew. This boat is ours now." He says, making Zoro stop rowing… But he turns to give them an angry glare instead of handing them the oars.

"Huh?" He asks in an annoyed voice. What follows next it the sound of fists hitting flesh, before the three men can be seen chuckling nervously with beaten up faces, while Zoro and Luffy are sitting against the sides of the boat, Luffy staring off into the sky, while the Swordsman glares at the three.

"I'm sorry. We had no idea you were the famous pirate hunter Zoro." The one in the middle says, this one called Moe, while the one next to him with the orange hair was called Larry, and the largest of the three was named Curley.

"Please forgive us!" They cried out in unison.

"Thanks to you three we lost sight of our friend." Zoro says with anger and annoyance clear in his voice, while Luffy huffs next to him.

"And the bird…" He mutters, making Zoro turn to glare at him as well.

"You're still worrying about the bird?!" He yells, before taking a breath and turning back to the idiot trio who are still rowing, afraid of what would happen if they stopped. "Anyways, you three just keep paddling. Knowing Jack… Either he'll make his way to us, or he'll end up giving us an easy way to find him." Zoro comments, letting Luffy know that he'd been friends with the raven haired teen for a while now. However, the straw hat wearing teen just continues to stare off into the sky after being yelled at by the Swordsman… Not knowing that he was actually looking in the direction that his First Mate had been taken.

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Meanwhile, miles away slightly angled from the direction the idiot trio was rowing, but in the direction that Luffy was looking, an island can be seen with a large pirate ship docked, the flag containing the same symbol that was on Moe's hat. However, the unsettling part about the island is that even though a large town can be seen, there are no townspeople in sight. Instead, only one girl could be seen with a group of men chasing after her. "Hey girl, get back here!" One yells in anger.

"You better give us that map back or else!" Another adds, making the girl run faster from the group.

"We just stole that chart of the Grand Line, it belongs to us!" the final man in the group yells at her.

"Damn it. If we don't get that map back we're as good as dead!" The first man yells at his companions.

"We'll be killed by one of the captain's cannonballs!" The second one agrees, making the three run faster in an attempt to catch up to the girl currently running from them. Meanwhile, back at a tent that had the characteristics of a circus tent, a voice starts speaking.

"Captain Buggy! I've spotted something high in the sky, above the port!" It calls out, spotting the bird that had taken Jack earlier. However, it no longer held him in its talons, and instead had a shape that vaguely resembled a person on its back.

"Well, shoot it down." Another voice responds in a dark tone. In response to the order, the sound of a cannonball being launched echoes through the town, making everyone turn to look in the direction it came from, and then turn to follow the path of the cannonball as it gets closer and closer to the bird. Then… The pink bird dodges it, and the dark shape that was on top starts to fall towards the ground. When it closes in on the spot that the group of men and the girl were in, they all let of startled yells, just before it hits a carriage that was full of hay. The four people present turn to look at it, waiting to see if what was dropped was actually alive, though doubting it from the height that it fell since they knew that hay wouldn't do any good to cushion a fall from _that _height.

However, they're all shocked when a figure rolls out of the carriage and onto its feet. This figure being none other than Jack, who brushes a few straws of hay off his shoulders, before rolling them a bit and looking at the scene in front of him, his hood hiding the upper part of his face. He easily takes in the situation within a matter of seconds. He sees the group of burly looking pirate men who are staring at him in shock, as well as the beautiful, girl with short, orange hair, Caucasian skin, and brown eyes. She's currently wearing brown boots that are folded down to her ankles, a yellow skirt that has white flowers on it, and a blue and white striped shirt with a V-neck that reveals a slight bit of her cleavage. She's also staring at him in shock, just like the pirates, and is holding onto a rolled up piece of paper. During the three seconds it takes Jack to take all this in, he straightens out, and then points at the girl.

"You! Didn't I tell you not to get caught?!" He yells, making the girl look at him in shock since she was about to something similar in terms of calling him "boss" in order to take the heat off her. "Go into that building, I guess that I'll have to take care of these men on my own." He tells her, making her quickly refocus, and nod with a slight smile as she runs towards the building he pointed to.

"Sure thing boss! Thanks for coming to save me!" She yells as she heads through the door, and runs up towards the second landing in order to watch what's about to happen. Ready to run in case the guy that just fell from the sky ended up failing… Which to her seemed like the likely outcome since he was going against three tough looking pirates after falling out of the sky into a carriage filled with hay. Meanwhile, as she runs up the stairs, the pirates in question glare at the man in front of them.

"So, you're that bitch's boss huh?" One guy asks, making Jack turn to face him as they all brandish their swords and smirk evilly.

"You should've let your lackey fend for herself." Another one adds. Jack unsheathes his cutlass with his right hand and turns to completely face the men in front of him just as the orange haired girl walks through the door onto the balcony on the second floor.

"Calling her a lackey…" He trails off, before slashing the air in front of him with a smirk on his face. "I suppose that makes you a bunch of hypocrites if your just regular members of a pirate crew." He says, making the men in front of him bristle in anger.

"You bastard!" They all yell at him, before they charge forwards with yells of anger. All three of them swing their swords down at him, thinking that at least one of them would be able to kill him. The girl thinks this too, and turned away from the scene with a grimace. Then, **_~Clang!~_** the sound of metal meeting metal echoes through the air, **_~Squelch!~_** along with the squelching sound of blade stabbing through flesh. After this happens, the girl slowly turns to face the group on the ground… And her mouth drops at the sight before her.

Jack had blocked two of the men's swords with his cutlass, while the third… He falls backwards onto the ground with a stab wound through his abdomen. However, the stab wound was in the same place that Jack had placed his hand, not the direction that the cutlass was pointing. What made this even more shocking was the fact that Jack wasn't holding a dagger or anything else that could have created the wound. The girl and the two other men on the street see this happen with wide eyes, before the men are forced to refocus as Jack pushes against their swords, causing them to stumble backwards. When this happens, Jack moves forwards a bit, and then **_~Skish!~_** slashes one across the stomach making him fall to the ground, before flicking his wrist, and hitting the second one with the palm of his hand, just like he'd done to the first man.

In response, the man in front of him coughs up a bit of blood, before Jack steps back, and allows him to fall onto his stomach in the middle of the road, letting the younger man sheath his cutlass as he flicks his wrist once again. The girl watches all this happen with wide eyes, before Jack turns to face her, making her refocus as she takes in what just happened. "Wow… Just, wow." She mutters, before shaking her head and smiling at the young man standing on the ground below the balcony. "You know, you're pretty powerful taking on three men with only a single sword." She tells him with a smile, making the man smirk in response as he removes his hood, revealing his cobalt eyes, Caucasian skin and raven colored hair.

"Thanks, though, having the three of them underestimate me at first, and then fear me a few seconds later definitely contributed to that." He tells her, surprising her at the fact that he wasn't taking complete credit and saying that he did everything with his own skills, since that's what most men she'd met did. "Anyways, I never did get your name beautiful. Mine's Jack" He tells her with a small smirk, making the girl get a light blush. However, the reason for this isn't because he'd called her beautiful, though that contributes to it, but instead the way that he'd said it. Instead of every other man that she'd run into who tried to get her to be with him, and only said things like that to try and win her over, the man standing on the ground said it in a different way. It was more like he actually _meant _that she was beautiful. However, she quickly shakes that off, and gives him a smile in thanks for the compliment.

"I'm a talented thief who steals strictly from pirates. The name's Nami." She greets him, making him nod in response, before her smile widens slightly. "Hey, wanna team up with me?" She asks him, deciding to lean forwards slightly when she does so in order to give him a better view of her cleavage to both seduce him into it, as well as slightly "reward" him for giving her a meaningful compliment… Though mostly to seduce him since after his display he would definitely be helpful on her current journey. Jack thinks about it for a few moments, during which Nami vaults over the railing of the balcony she's standing on to land in front of him, before he frowns slightly.

"Normally I would agree with a beautiful girl such as yourself right away." He tells her, making her smirk slightly at the fact that he's still complimenting her, but not trying to win her over by doing so. "But… I'm afraid to say that I can't for two reasons. The first being that I have two friends who are no doubt searching for me right now, while the second… Well, those two friends are kinda my crewmates. I just recently joined a pirate crew myself. So, sorry about that." He admits, rubbing the back of his neck as he gives her an apologetic smile, before turning around to walk away.

Meanwhile, Nami's eyes widen at what he says, before they narrow on his back. "Why the hell did you join a pirate crew?" She asks him with a slight snarl, now regretting the fact that she'd considered letting him join her. Jack sighs a bit at her question, and turns around to face her.

"What do you know about pirate crews or pirates in general?" He asks her, slightly surprising the girl, but making her scowl when she thinks about what he asked.

"I know that they're no good, thieving, murdering-" However, before she can continue her list, Jack cuts her off.

"See, that's where you're wrong." He says, shocking her at what he was trying to say, since she didn't believe that one bit. "Did you ever think about the smaller pirate crews out there? The ones who are simply out in search of buried treasure, or the kind who simply want to go on adventures, and are labeled pirates by the people and government because the way they do things are illegal? Well, that's the kind that I joined. We're not going to be going from town to town, stealing and murdering and just to get what we want. Instead, we'll go looking for interesting places, searching for adventures to go on, and interesting people to meet as well as powerful people to fight, all the while heading towards our own main goals." He explains, shocking the girl in front of him once again as he speaks with passion in each sentence, actually managing to get her to think about what he's saying in the back of her mind.

"And, if we ever run into the kinds of pirate crews that steal from innocent people like you talk about, I have no trouble believing that any one of the three of us would step in, and beat them all into bloody pulps." He says with a shrug, before frowning slightly. "And, I also think that if we ran into the kind that murdered, or worse, like you said, the three of us would have no problems killing them outright." He states with a dark look in his eyes as he thinks about the kind of people who do such things.

To say Nami was shocked by the words spoken by the man in front of her would be an understatement. The fact that he was willing to beat up pirates or kill them, when he was a pirate himself, shocked her to her core, and began to make her think about her views in the very back of her mind. To say that Jack's manner of speaking was effective would also be an understatement, since if it had been almost anyone else, they would have said these things in a way of speaking that would have taken a few weeks to even make Nami think about the possibilities.

However, she's broken out of her musings by the sound of a stomach grumbling, bringing her attention to Jack as he sighs. "Damn it Luffy… I manage to go for a whole day with food after going three _weeks _without it, and then he goes and eats the rest of it while we sleep… That idiot should know that it's not a good idea to keep food from his crewmates." He mutters, making Nami raise an eyebrow, before she speaks up.

"Well, you might be a part of a pirate crew…" She trails off, before giving off a sigh. "But, I suppose that I should pay you back for helping me out with those goons." She tells him, slightly surprising herself at what she was suggesting, and also shocked at why she was even bothering to take his words into consideration. **(Of course, we all know why, and that's because of the author trying to make their relationship have a foundation fairly early so that people aren't waiting forever for it…)** In response, Jack's eyes widen slightly, before he holds his hands out in front of him.

"I couldn't do that. I was just helping out. I mean, a beautiful girl being chased down by three men? That can only lead to two, maybe three, different outcomes." He tells her, once again surprising her at how he's not acting like the many other pirates she'd met in the past, even though a small voice in the back of her head tells her that maybe he _isn't_ like the rest. But either way, Nami simply shakes her head at his denial.

"It's not a problem. Granted, you being a pirate might be one, but I'll never let myself be in debt to someone." She tells him, though slightly flinches when she says this. _At least, no one else…_ She thinks. If Jack had noticed her flinch, then he was kind enough not to mention it as he simply sighs.

"Alright…" He says, following after the orange haired girl as she leads him towards one of the houses in the vacant town, said girl still wondering why she was doing this the entire time they walk…

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A few minutes later, the two can be seen inside one of the abandoned houses in the town, with Jack eating a burger at a table that Nami was "kind" enough to make him. As he eats, the two stay silent, neither speaking for separate reasons. The pirate because he was eating, while the thief stayed silent as she leaned against one of the walls due to her mind not only going over how she would get out of the mess that she got herself into by stealing Buggy the clown pirate's map, but also because of what Jack had told her earlier. As the pirate continues to eat the burger at the table, his hood still down, Nami looks at him out of the corner of her eye.

She was mentally at war with herself due to the information that he gave her. On one hand, she wanted to believe what he said about there being multiple different pirates out there, and that maybe not _all_ of them were as evil as she previously thought. But on the other hand, she thought of the fact that he'd admitted that he was a pirate himself, and thus could just be lying to her in order to get her to drop her guard, before he killed her and took the map. However, she's broken out of her thoughts when the person she'd been thinking about speaks up.

"You know…" Jack begins, making her turn to look at him completely as he scratches his cheek after using a napkin to get rid of any lingering crumbs, once again surprising her at the manners that he's showing despite him being a pirate. "I never got an explanation for why it was that you were running from those guys originally." He says, making her eyes widen when she realizes that he _didn't_ know that the paper held in her hands was a map of the Grand Line. However, at this point, she already knew that he'd seen it, and attempting to brush past it would just make him more interested. So, with a sigh, she holds up the rolled up map for him to see.

"Those guys were part of Buggy the clown's pirate crew. They were chasing me for this." She explains, hoping that he wouldn't ask for more information, but she wouldn't be surprised if he did. However, what he said next _did _surprise her.

"Hm… Pirates on Buggy the clown's pirate crew eh? And they're after that rolled up piece of paper? Well, considering that we're currently in a time period full of pirates, and those guys _were_ pirates, I'm gonna have to wager a guess and say that paper there is a map. And, seeing as his crew is currently stationed here, I'd have to wager a guess and say that map is to one of two places. The first option is that it's to a treasure buried on this island. However, seeing as it looks like most of said island is already mostly covered by the town, and I didn't see him have any of his men searching the rest of the island for any type of marker or passageway, and none of them have any shovels, I'd have to say that first option isn't the right one. So, that only leaves the second. It's a map to the Grand Line. After all, what better place to find buried treasure than the place where countless ships have ventured and no doubt succumbed to the horrors? And I'd say that the reason he stopped here was to pillage the town for any useful materials, or simply to scare the locals like the stereotypical pirate." He tells her, making her eyes widen as her jaw drops open.

_He figured all that out… Just by me telling him about Buggy the clown and showing him a rolled up piece of paper?... _She thinks to herself in shock and awe at the young man sitting at the table in front of her. When she snaps out of her stupor, she immediately points at him. "Alright, just who the hell are you? You were able to tell all that just by me giving you two pieces of information!" She exclaims, making Jack smirk as he leans forwards to place his elbows on the table and interlock his fingers in front of his chin.

"Oh you know… Just your run-of-the-mil pirate whose goal is to become the world's greatest treasure hunter… After all, in my line of work, you've got to know how to piece together riddles and clues to get to hidden treasure, even if you're only given one or two of said clues." He says with a small shrug, the smirk remaining on his face. At that information, Nami's brain starts to work on overtime. In her life, there were only two things that she liked. Tangerines and Money.

There were a small amount of other things more important, for sure… But she wasn't going to mention them to some random person she met a few minutes ago, and a pirate at that. However despite this, the fact that the young man sitting in front of her was a _treasure _hunter immediately made her think of the possibilities, and her eyes changed to golden Berri symbols at the thought of what could possibly be in store for her future if she played her cards right. That being said, she decided to start on that now. So, eyes changing back to normal, she immediately puts on a flirtatious smirk as she stops leaning against the wall and walks towards the young man sitting at the table.

"So… If you're trying to be the best treasure hunter, then that must mean that you're heading to the Grand Line." She says as she saunters over to him with an obvious sway to her hips, sure that if she did this right, she'd be well on her way to collecting more than enough Berri's to last her a lifetime… Or buy an island. However, what she doesn't know as she gets closer to Jack is that he's internally smirking at her actions.

_She wants to do it this way huh? Well, I guess that I'll play along for now._ He thinks, leaning back in his chair as he places his feet on the table, his right crossed over his left while his interlocked fingers are placed behind his head. "Yup, my goal's to find the One Piece. Granted, I just want to _find_ it and mark myself as the greatest treasure hunter. My captain's the one that wants to discover it so that he can be king of the pirates." He tells her, making her falter slightly in her steps, before she regains her composure and continues sauntering towards him, stopping when she's standing next to him.

"Well in that case, you must have a pretty good crew." She comments, hoping that if she continued to do this right, she could find a way to be with them and collect any Berri they might collect. In response to her comment, Jack shrugs, still wearing the same smirk on his face.

"Eh, not really. I'll admit, I only joined a few days ago. As of right now, we have my captain, me as the first mate, and a swordsman. Heck, we still need a navigator, doctor, cook, musician, and a shipwright. Hell, I wouldn't complain to having more than just that, but that's basically the foundation for what we still need for the crew." He tells her, making her smirk become slightly wider, as well as more flirtatious.

"Well then it seems that you might just be in luck. I'm the best navigator you're likely to find around. And I'll admit, your speech back there gave me quite a bit to think about. Maybe I could help you out with your navigational problem. I won't join your crew, but I'll at least work with you until I've made my decision." She tells him, internally celebrating as she imagines herself swimming in piles of Berri's and gold. In response to her comment, Jack's own smirk widens a bit.

"Well, I'll admit that does sound quite appealing. And the fact that having a navigator working with us that's a beautiful girl such as yourself makes it all the more better." He tells her, making her smirk become more flirtatious as she starts to believe that she's roping him in.

"Well aren't you a charmer?" She asks him, her voice also becoming more flirtatious, Jack's smirk widening when she says this.

"I just state the facts. Any man would have to be blind to not see you as beautiful." He tells her. In response, Nami decides to add a bit more to her flirting in order to attempt to completely rope him in. So, her smirk changes from flirtatious to seductive as she walks a bit closer to him, and trails her hand along his cheek lightly as she leans forwards, once again using the tactic of showing him a decent amount of her cleavage to seduce him and get him to help her towards her goal without him even knowing it.

"Who knew that a pirate could be a smooth talker?" She asks him with a slight purr, making his smirk widen a bit more.

"You'll find that I'm full of surprises Nami. And if you stick around me and the rest of the crew I'm a part of, you might just find out more of them." He tells her, making her continue to seductively smirk at him as she straightens out and steps back, before she turns towards the window, dropping said smirk as she walks towards the glass in order to rein in her flirtatious side to get back to the seriousness of her current plan, and how she would be able to work it out. As she does this, she hears voices coming from outside the window. However, what she doesn't know is that Jack also dropped his smirk, and stood up as he looks at her reflection in the glass that made up the window, seeing her smirk drop as she develops the serious expression as she looked out said window.

_Nami's obviously done this before, that much was obvious when she tried to get me wrapped around her finger. After all, it's not the _best_ idea to tell a pirate that you steal from _other pirates _before you find out that they're a pirate… However, there's more to her than just a hatred for pirates. It's like she has a main reason for it. Did they burn her village? Kill someone she loved? Keep her as a slave during her younger years?_ Jack wonders to himself, his blood boiling as he thinks about these different situations. _Well no matter what happened… I have a feeling that with her around, I'll find out soon enough... And then it's just a matter of beating them all into bloody pulps for ruining someone's childhood._ He thinks in anger, before he reigns that anger in as Nami suddenly turns to him with the seductive smirk back on her face.

"You're in luck. I've decided that I'll stick around you and crew that you're a part of. However…" She trails off as she saunters over to him, placing her index finger on his chest as she seductively trails it over the clothing as she smirks at him, the fact that he's only a few inches taller than her making it so she doesn't have to crane her neck to do so. "You're going to have to do a little something for me in return." She tells him with the same slight purr from earlier, making him give his own smirk in response.

"I'll have to hear what it is first, then I'll see if I agree to it or not." He tells her, making her smirk widen as she turns around and saunters towards the wall, making sure to once again add the extra sway in an attempt to get him focused on her hips and ass so that she could continue, in her mind, to seduce him. After a few seconds, she turns around and walks back over to him with a rope held in her hands.

"It's nothing much… I just need a little help with something, that's all…" She tells him, the purr still in her voice, making him raise an eyebrow, though his smirk remains on his face. At this point two scenarios run through his head as for why she needs the rope… And neither one of them seems especially "bad". Although… one of them would help them both in the long run, while the other would make it _plainly_ obvious that all she wanted out of this "partnership" would be help before she completely left him, Luffy and Zoro. Granted, it was pretty obvious to him that's what she was planning already, but with the second option, it would be likely that she would separate from them as soon as they left this island. However, as all this goes through his head, Jack simply gives a shrug to Nami, the smirk still on his face.

"Well, I'm all ears beautiful." He tells her, making her smirk widen a bit in response.

"Alright, I'm just gonna need to tie this around your wrists and chest…"

* * *

"It's her!" One of the pirates that Jack cut down earlier exclaims a few minutes after Nami and Jack had finished their conversation, the other two pirates that the young man had cut down standing beside him with all three of them having bandages around the wounds that the younger pirate had given them. The pirate that had yelled was pointing to a sight a few feet away, with that sight being Nami walking towards him and his buddies with Jack tied up with the rope from earlier, his hands tied behind his back, while the rest of Buggy's pirate crew were standing around the area.

"That's the sneaky thief who stole the chart!" One of his other buddies exclaims, pointing his own arm at Nami along with the first man as the girl stops walking and turns towards the circus tent that Buggy's crew was gathered around, the pirate captain sitting on a chair inside the shade of the tent. The captain in question looked just like his name suggested. Like a clown. He had on brown boots, pale blue pants, and a red and white striped shirt. Over the shirt, he had on a bright orange captain's jacket, which had green shoulder pads, while white gloves covered his hands. Buggy had Caucasian skin, ebony eyes, and blue hair that was mostly covered by his bright orange captain's hat. He also had a tattoo of two bones that were crossed over one another, the ends of each one going over his separate eyes. However, the most noticeable feature of Buggy the clown pirate… Was the big rubber nose that took place of his real one.

As Buggy's crew looks on, Jack is suddenly shoved away from Nami, and onto the ground. Due to the fact that his arms are tied behind his back, he wasn't able to catch himself and fell face first onto the stone ground below with a pained grunt… At least, what _sounded_ like a pained grunt, but was actually a fake one that the younger pirate let off in order to make this situation more convincing. After being shoved to the ground, Nami looks down at him and sticks out her tongue, before looking at Buggy. "I've captured the thief, captain Buggy the clown. And here's your chart back." She says as she walks over to the clown pirate, Jack "glaring" at her as she goes while Buggy watches her walk towards him with suspicion.

"Not that I don't appreciate it. But… Why the sudden change of heart little girl?" He asks her as she hands him the map to the Grand Line. After she does this, Nami steps back with a smile on her face.

"I had another fight with my boss and I just can't take it anymore." She tells him as she holds her arms up and shrugs, a smile still on her face as she puts her arms behind her back and interlocks them together. "So I thought I'd see if I could join your crew." She tells him, making Jack's "glare" get "harsher", while Buggy narrows his eyes at her. When he does this, his crew starts to panic slightly.

"C-captain Buggy sure does look angry doesn't he?" One of the three pirates from before asks nervously as the three of them, and the rest of his crew, start to nervously shake.

"He's gonna use the devil fruit power!" Another one exclaims in fear, making Jack's eyes narrow as he looks at Buggy out of the corner of his eyes as he continues to "glare" at Nami.

_Devil fruit huh? Gotta file that away for later. Don't wanna underestimate this guy. If he has the chart to the Grand Line and he's planning on going there, then either he's confident in his abilities… Or he's like Luffy and doesn't care about what might happen._ Jack thinks to himself, filing away the fact that Buggy apparently has devil fruit powers while he continues to glare at Nami… Before the clown pirate lets off a loud laugh that, creepily enough, is reminiscent to that of A certain clown villain. **(You know the one that's from a few of the animated shows, not the live action movies… Though seeing as I've never heard the Joker's laugh from the movies, I wouldn't know… Anyways, back to the story.)**

"You're fed up huh? I must admit you're an amusing girl. I like you, of course you can join my crew!" Buggy exclaims, before laughing once again, sending a small shiver down Jack's spine at the sound while Nami simply smiles at the fact that she'd succeeded in getting on board Buggy's crew.

_I've successfully infiltrated them! Pirates are so dumb and easy to manipulate._ She thinks to herself, not realizing that Jack is also thinking to himself, but along different lines.

_At least this clown doesn't have scars… _Jack thinks to himself, before he decides to speak up so that none of the pirates around him started to think that something might be up since he hadn't spoken this entire time. _Maybe we should have also gagged my mouth or something so that it would be more believable…_ _Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20._ He thinks with a mental sigh, before going through with his plan and speaking up so the pirates could hear him. "You damn bitch! And to think that I saved you not even half an hour ago." He hisses at her, making Buggy stop laughing as him and the rest of his crew look at the man on the ground as he "glares" at Nami. "And to think that you'd hand me over to _this_ sorry excuse." He says, making the Buggy pirates freeze as Nami stares at him in surprise.

"...What did you just say?" Buggy asks him in a low voice, making the younger pirate turn his glare to the clown pirate in response.

"You heard me. You dress like a clown, with all your fancy-smanshy colored clothes, and you even have your entire crew dress like clowns. Hell, I see you have one dressed like a jester over there." He says, referring to the crew member who had on a purple and light blue jester-like outfit. "Hell, you might be the captain of a pirate crew, but from what I've seen so far, you just sit there and do nothing while you have all your lackeys do your work for you. If that's how you are as a captain, then I don't even want to _see_ how you act as a clown." He says with a sneer, making the frozen crew members, and Nami, pale a bit at his words. Meanwhile, Buggy glares at Jack in utter hatred.

"Do you know who you're dealing with boy?" He asks in an angry voice, making Jack scoff.

"Yeah, a lazy captain who sits on his ass, and probably can't do a single clown trick." He says as he turns to the pale Nami. "And to think you want to join this fool." He says, making Buggy gain a large tick mark on his forehead.

"You don't think I can do clown tricks do you…?" He trails off, before bringing out three knives from his captain's jacket, and getting up from his chair as he walks out of the tent and into the sun. "Well…" He trails off with an evil smile as he holds up the knives for Jack to easily see, before throwing the knives… up into the air. When he does this, he catches them by the handles as they fall down, before he starts to juggle them. "How do you like this?!" He calls out, making Jack's glare turn into a bored expression.

"Please. You think that's impressive? I've seen other clowns do that with their eyes closed. Hell, I'm pretty sure that I could do that if my hands weren't tied together by a certain orange haired traitor." He says, making Buggy glare at him again.

"You don't think this is impressive? Fine! Men, more knives!" Buggy calls out, making his crew unfreeze as they all raise their fists.

"Yes captain Buggy!" They all shout out in unison, before one of them tosses an extra knife into the circle of knives that Buggy was already juggling, followed by another, and another, all the way until Buggy was juggling a total of twelve knives in a large circle, his hands fairly far apart as he continued to juggle in order to keep them all from falling. As Jack watches this, he raises one of his eyebrows.

"I'll admit, that's fairly good. Though if you were using chainsaws and juggling three of them on a unicycle, _then_ I'd be impressed." He says, making everyone present have anime-logic induced question marks appear over their heads in confusion.

"Chainsaws?" Buggy asks in confusion, making Jack facepalm… Or he would, if his hands weren't tied.

"Forgot they're not around… Imagine dozens of miniscule knives attached to a metal rope that's spinning at astounding speeds constantly, and attached to a large piece of metal that you're able to hold so that you can use the constantly spinning blades on different things such as trees. That's a chainsaw." He explains to all those that are present, making a majority of them go "Ahh." In understanding. **(Note: As of right now, I only know vaguely up to the Davy Black Fight arc in One Piece, so I'm not entirely sure if this world has chainsaws… And I can't remember every scene between this point and then, so I don't know if chainsaws have been mentioned.)**

"Hm, interesting… You know, I might just think abou searching for those things and- Why the hell am I even talking about this with you?!" Buggy yells in anger at the black haired pirate in front of him, before tossing all the knives as they land in his right hand so that they impact the ground around Jack, inches away from his body. A few seconds later, the small door to a steel bar cage is being locked, with Jack still tied up with rope inside of it as Buggy laughs at his misfortune. "It's a great day to be a pirate." He says darkly with an evil smirk at the younger pirate trapped inside the cage, before turning to Nami. "Girl, what do you call yourself?" He asks her, making her mostly get over what Jack just did.

"I'm Nami." She manages to tell him with a small smile, even though she has other thoughts in the back of her head. _How the hell did he get Buggy the clown, an infamous pirate of the East Blue sea with a 15,000,000 Berri bounty on his head, to _juggle_ for him?!_ She internally yells in shock and slight awe. The shock because the teen had expertly turned the conversation around so that Buggy would do something as simple as juggling, and awe because of the fact that he'd actually made Buggy juggle with nothing more than a few _words_. However, she's pulled out of her thoughts when the clown pirate starts talking once again.

"Then let's have a welcome party for our new friend Nami!" He exclaims, turning to his crew and holding his arms out wide with a large smile on his face. "Let's celebrate!" He exclaims, making his crew cheer in response, all of them now over the situation that had taken place only a minute beforehand. As they all set up an area for the party to take place around the tent, taking out food and drinks alike, none of them notice the smirk that Jack gives as he starts to twist his wrists a little, expertly doing so in a way that allows his index fingers and thumbs on each of his hands to reach the knot that kept them tied together at his wrists, before he easily undoes the knot within the time span of a few seconds.

"Morons." He mutters to himself as his smirk widens, and he ties the rope into a lasso, with the circle almost three feet in diameter. "Then again, that makes this all the more easier." He admits, throwing the rope out of the cage and tying it around a nearby keg of booze. Dragging it over to him as slowly as he can so he doesn't draw attention with the dragging sound it would make if he did it too quickly. When he drags the barrel over to him, he takes the lasso, before making the end smaller, and wrapping it around a mug on a nearby table, before flicking his hand and bringing it to him through the air. Then, he turns the keg, takes a knife from nearby with the lasso once again, and stabs it into the barrel of booze near the bottom.

The result when he pulls the knife away is beer flowing out of the newly made hole, Jack placing the mug underneath as the booze flows in, before he places the knife back where he stabbed it in, blocking off the booze to keep it from emptying. After he does this, he takes a drink of his newly acquired beer, watching the festivities taking place in front of him. _Morons. _He thinks as he continues to drink, before he suddenly hears Buggy speak up from his place inside the tent. Looking over, he sees Buggy standing on his chair, with his arms held out in the direction of a random cannon sitting off to the side.

"Now listen up! Men. It's time to prepare, the Buggy Ball!" Buggy exclaims, getting cheers out of all the clown pirates present in response as they roll the cannon near the edge of the roof that they're all on, getting a confused look from Nami, while Jack simply raises one of his eyebrows as he takes another sip of the beer as the pirate in a yellow and purple outfit brings a red cannonball towards the cannon, the front of said cannonball having the symbol of the Buggy pirates on it. Then, he puts it inside the cannon, and walks off to the side as the cannonball rolls to the back of the cannon while all the Buggy pirates crowd around.

"All set captain." The pirate tells Buggy, who's currently standing in the crowd with his arms crossed over his chest, and a dark smile on his face.

"W-what are you doing with that thing?" Nami asks him in confusion, Jack also wondering the same thing, but content to let Nami question what's happening as he continues to drink from the mug, though said mug curiously filled more than halfway, despite the amount of times he'd drunk from it.

"Just observe. The awesome might of the Buggy Ball…" Buggy replies. "Light it." He tells the two pirates standing beside the cannon, one of them doing just that as they light a match, and set fire to the rope that's leading into the cannon. When they do this, the two pirates standing on either side of the cannon slouch a bit, and cover their ears for the oncoming sound of the cannon firing. As they do this, Jack notices that they're pointing the cannon at a large cluster of houses, and thinks about it.

_A fairly normal sized cannon ball… But colored red with Buggy's jolly roger on it… And they're pointing it at a large cluster of houses…_ As he thinks about this, he takes another sip of his drink, before he stops drinking from it. _Ah… I see…_ Suddenly, the cannon fires, but it lets off a louder bang than a normal cannon would, making Nami let off a startled scream as the Buggy Ball suddenly fires out of the cannon, smashing through all the houses that stand in its way before exploding against the stone part of one of said houses, releasing a large ball of fire, before smoke covers the area that it fired. When the smoke eventually clears, all that remains of the houses that the Buggy Ball shot through is wooden planks, and broken pieces of stone pillars.

In response to this, all the Buggy pirates are celebrating with cheers of excitement, while Nami stares at the destruction with wide, horror filled eyes, and Jack simply takes another sip of from his mug of beet, the only visible sign of his slight surprise being his raised eyebrow. As everyone reacts to the devastation, Buggy starts to chuckle. "That was flashy… With these Buggy Balls, and my devil fruit powers, I should have no problem conquering the grand line. Right, Nami?" He asks the newest "member" of his crew, snapping the orange haired girl out of her horrified trance, and making her turn to face the pirate captain, sweating a bit as she does so.

"Right. Yes, of course…" Nami says with a bit of nervousness in her voice, though the only one who notices is Jack. As he continues to sit there with his mug of beer, Buggy looks over at him, and notices.

"Hey! How'd you get that?!" He yells, pointing at the beer in Jack's hand as the younger pirate simply raises his eyebrow again before he lowers the mug.

"You guys were distracted. I used that time to get myself some beer. Oh, by the way, this stuff is _really_ weak." He tells them, making many of the pirate's eyes widen.

"What do you mean it's weak?!" Buggy yells, making Jack simply scoff as he takes another sip, before slamming the mug into the keg through the bars, shattering the wooden barrel and revealing that he'd already drunken the entire thing, making everyone's eyes widen.

"This stuff only has about 6% alcohol per volume in it… The stuff that I usually drink has about 40% APV… So yeah, this stuff is pretty weak to me." He tells them with a shrug as he finishes off the rest of the beer in his mug while the Buggy pirates, and Nami, stare at him with eyes wide in shock.

"What?!" Everyone present exclaims, making Jack give a chuckle in response.

"Man, if you guys get drunk off this stuff, you _all_ must be lightweights." He says, making Buggy grow a tick-mark. How dare this _kid_ insult _him_, Buggy the clown pirate?! Just as he's about to yell for his men to kill the young man, he notices the cannon out of the corner of his eyes, as well as a certain orange haired girl. These two things make him get an evil smile on his face. Oh, he'd have the last laugh here, not this kid that thought he was all that. So…

"Nami!" He calls, making the girl jump a bit as she turns to face the pirate captain, and see the grin that he has on his face. "How would you like a Buggy Ball to blow away your old boss?" He asks as he turns to face the young man in question, who's simply leaning against the bars of the cage with his legs crossed, and his fingers interlocked behind his head.

"H-Huh?" Nami asks him with a slight stutter, and he turns to face her with shadows cast over a few parts of his face, making the pirate captain look even more intimidating.

"It will be a great opportunity. For you to prove your loyalty to _me_, your new captain. Not only that, but it will get rid of this _pest_ and keep him from trying to take anything else that's mine… Men!" He exclaims, surprising Nami even more when a few crew members move the cannon into position in front of the cage, and aim it straight at Jack. However, after this happens, Nami starts to sweat a bit, and turns to face Buggy with a nervous smile.

"That's alright captain, we don't have to finish him off quite yet. Let's get back to the welcoming party and just have more fun." She suggests, but her smile fades when she sees the dark one that he's giving as he turns to face her with a chuckle.

"This _is_ my idea of having more fun." He tells her, before placing a box of matches in her hand and making her stare down at it as the crew around her starts to get excited at what's about to happen.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" They all exclaim with wide grins on their faces, while Nami continues to stare down at the box of matches in her hand, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts.

_If I don't shoot, I'll be killed! _She thinks to herself, before looking up at the relaxed teen that's sitting inside the cage, who's now staring her right in the eyes. _But if I _do _shoot… Then I'm no better than these pirates…_ She thinks as more sweat starts to accumulate on her brow, her mind going over the things that Jack had told her, as well as how he'd selflessly jumped in to save her when he didn't even know her earlier. However, she's brought back to reality when Buggy suddenly starts yelling.

"Now! Light the fuse Nami!" He exclaims with his hands held wide as he gives a wide smile at the situation. However, as the crowd of Buggy pirates continues to chant for her to fire the cannon, all the orange haired girl can do is stare at the teen inside the cage, as he stares into her own eyes, the girl's hands shaking a bit as she thinks about the situation that she's been placed in. "Hey!" Buggy shouts, making Nami stiffen a little. "You're not wimping out on me are you?!" He exclaims in frustration, making Nami shake a bit more. However, another voice speaks after the clown pirate yells at her.

"You're not gonna do it." Jack says simply, making Nami focus on him once again. "You're hands are shaking… You don't have the resolve to follow through with what Buggy's telling you… You can't kill me… Which means that you'll most likely die…" Jack says with a blank look on his face, making Nami shake a bit more when she realizes that he's right… She can't kill, not when the person that she's being told to kill has done nothing to her besides be polite and nice, even if he'd told her that he's a pirate. However, her hesitance doesn't go unnoticed, and a member of Buggy's crew walks forwards, and snatches the matches out of her hand as he walks towards the cannon.

"You chick, stop being such a tease… Let _me_ show you how to light the cannon." He tells her as he drags one of the matches against the side of the box and lights it, making Nami turn to him in surprise. However, as he reaches towards the rope that would light said cannon, her eyes widen, and she quickly reaches down to her thigh, and brings out three wooden poles. At speeds that surprised the Buggy pirates, said poles were suddenly attached to form a single staff, which Nami then used to hit the pirate lighting the cannon over the head. At this act, the rooftop goes silent, the Buggy pirates staring at Nami in shock, while Jack simply lets a smirk make its way onto his face.

"Well would you look at that. The beautiful navigator decides to save the life of a pirate. Who would have guessed." He says, though the smirk on his face tells her that he had _known _that she would do that, and at the back of her mind, she wonders how. But as for her main focus…

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm not doing this for you, you idiot! I just don't want to lower myself to the level of these inhuman pirates!" She exclaims, bringing almost everyone's attention to her as they turn to look at her with glares, effectively bringing all attention off of Jack. "Pirates took the life of a person very dear to me! I'll never be one of them!" She yells in defiance… Only to feel a hand on her shoulder. She whips her head around to look at who it is, thinking that it's one of Buggy's pirates, only to see Jack standing there as he looks at her.

"Well that's too bad… And here I was, thinking that I might have gotten through to you earlier." He says, making everyone look at him with wide eyes as he suddenly takes his cutlass out of its sheath, and cuts the fuse that the pirate had succeeded in lighting, letting the burning part fall to the floor and leaving a good amount of rope left attached to the cannon.

"How the hell did you get out of the cage?!" Buggy yells in shock, no longer focusing on the orange haired girl that had betrayed _him_, and not the black haired teen next to her. In response to Buggy's question, Jack simply gives him a sly smirk as he sheaths his cutlass, and points with his thumb over his shoulder at the open cage at the other end of the roof.

"You think I'd be stupid enough to go walking around without a lock-picking kit? You must be stupider than you look. And _that_ surprises even me." He says with another smirk, Nami still looking at him in shock and awe once again.

_He waited until their attention was on me, and then used the distraction to pick the lock on the cage and get out… How the hell can he do all this with simple _conversations_?!_ She thinks to herself with wide eyes, before Buggy yells, gaining her attention.

"You think you're so smart! Get them men!" He shouts, making three of his pirates run towards them with their swords drawn, making Nami look at them in surprise, and start to raise her staff to defend herself. However, Jack places a hand on her shoulder, stopping her as she looks at him in surprise, and seeing the sly grin on his face once again. She turns back to look at the charging pirates, and even though Jack seems so sure, she flinches and turns away, thinking that it was the end for them. She hears the pirates jump off the ground with yells of rage… Only for nothing to happen to her.

"What took you guys so long?" She hears Jack ask, and opens her eyes and turns to face the charging pirates, her eyes widening when she sees two male teens standing in front of them.

"Well, it would have been easier if we knew where you were in the first place." The green haired man says as he holds back two of the pirates with sheathed katanas, the sheaths in question slammed into their faces. Next to him, another raven haired teen has his fist impacted against the third pirate's face.

"Yeah! Hey, Jack! Where'd that giant bird from earlier go?!" He yells, turning around to face the pirate in question, getting a sigh from Jack in response.

"Always about food." He says with a light chuckle, before looking at the other raven haired teen that's standing in front of him as all the Buggy pirates look at them with wide eyes. "I let it fly away Luffy. Turns out the bird was actually a mother. I wasn't gonna take a child's mother away from it." He says, making Luffy give him a wide smile.

"Oh, okay!" He replies, his earlier annoyance at not getting to eat the bird replaced with happiness that the bird went back to its family. Then, the three pirates that him and the green haired man had hit fall to the ground, unconscious, and said green haired man turns around to face them.

"You guys hurt?" He asks them, the still surprised Nami not answering, while Jack simply shakes his head.

"Nah, we're okay Zoro." He says, before throwing his hood over his head once again, and walking forwards a bit, leaving the still surprised Nami where she is. As he does this, the Buggy pirates finally snap out of their own surprise, and start talking amongst themselves about how Jack had called Zoro by his name, making them all believe that he's Roronoa Zoro… Which he is. As they talk about this, Nami is staring at the swordsman as well.

_The crew he mentioned… Roronoa Zoro the _pirate hunter_ is a part of it?_ She thinks in shock, before Buggy speaks up.

"So you're Zoro…" He says with his arms crossed as he looks at the ground, causing a shadow to be thrown over the top part of his face, just like what Jack's hood did for him. "If you're here for my head you've got quite the struggle before you." Buggy tells the swordsman, Zoro just shrugging in response.

"No, not interested. I gave up pirate hunting. I'm here for my friend." Zoro says in response, making Buggy look up at him with a crazed smile on his face.

"But _I'm_ interested though. Killing you would higher my reputation." Buggy says, making Zoro turn slightly to send the clown pirate a glare.

"If you try… You'll die." Zoro says simply, but Buggy simply pulls out multiple knives, the same crazed grin on his face.

"O~~~~h. Is that so?" He asks as he spins one knife in his right hand, before grabbing the handle as he holds four other smaller knives in his other hand between his fingers. In response, Zoro sighs.

"I tried to warn you, but oh well…" He says as Buggy's crew starts to cheer the pirate captain on, Buggy licking one of his knives as they do so, while Zoro unsheathes his katana, but keeps his bandana tied around his arm, not believing Buggy to be worthy of getting serious and tying it around his head. As he does this, Jack speaks up from a couple feet away.

"Careful Zoro… Buggy has devil fruit powers, so make sure you keep an eye on him at all times." He says with seriousness in his voice, making Zoro nod in response, just as Buggy charges towards him with another laugh, making Jack get another chill, but continue to watch as Buggy charges the swordsman.

"Die flashily!" Buggy exclaims as he jumps towards Zoro… Only to get his leg and arm cut off, as well as get cut in half at his waist. However, as the captain falls to the ground, Zoro listens to Jack's advice, and turns around to look at the captain with his swords still drawn. But as he watches the body, his eyebrow raises.

"That wasn't much of a fight now was it?" He asks, Jack continuing to stare at the body with Zoro, but eyeing it with a more contemplative eye than his friend.

"Oh wow, he's weak. Way to go Zoro!" Luffy cheers… With a mouth full of food from the feast that the pirates had been having earlier.

"Hey that's not for you!" A bunch of Buggy pirates yell at him in annoyance as they start to take out their weapons… Only to get knocked out by a few punches from the straw hat wearing teen. As everyone stares at the body, the people who aren't on Buggy's crew suddenly hear them all start to laugh, making Zoro, Luffy and Nami turn to look around them, while Jack continues to stare at the body.

"Hey why are they laughing?" Luffy asks with another full mouth, Nami raising one of her eyebrows as she also looks at the Buggy pirates around them.

"Their captain is lying dead on the ground and yet they're still laughing? What's going on?" She asks. However, all the Buggy pirates suddenly stop laughing, making everyone raise their eyebrows, until they hear one sound.

**_~Clang!~_**

The sound of metal striking metal. This makes everyone turn in the direction it came from, to see Jack standing there with his cutlass unsheathed, holding back one of Buggy's knives… Which is held in his amputated hand. "Damn it Zoro. Didn't I tell you _not_ to take your eyes off him?" He asks the swordsman, who's staring at him with wide eyes before Jack suddenly pushes the knife wielding arm back, making it float towards Buggy's body. The top half of which is floating in mid-air.

"I'm surprised that you managed to notice that." Buggy says as his arm and leg reattach to his body, no scar or anything else like that to even display that he'd been cut. "The Chop-Chop fruit… That's the name of the devil fruit that gave me this power…" He says, before he gains another maniacal grin on his face. "I'm a Chop-Chop person and now I can never be defeated by the sword!" He exclaims, before going on to give another laugh, making Luffy look at him with a blank look as he continues to shovel food into his mouth, while Zoro and Nami look at him in shock, and Jack simply frowning at the declaration.

"His limbs… Reattached? And I always thought that devil fruits were just a story that pirates told." Nami says in shock as she stares at the clown pirate standing in front of them.

"So he's a Chop-Chop man? That's pretty freaky." Says Luffy… The Gum-Gum man. However, after swallowing the mouthful of food he had, he suddenly thinks of something, and glares at Buggy. "Hey! Wait a minute! You tried to stab him in the back! That's a cowardly move you big nose!" He yells, making almost everyone look at him in shock, the only exceptions being Buggy as he gives a blank look as he continues to look at the young man in front of him, while Zoro and Jack simply smirk at their captain's exclamation. However, Buggy suddenly gains an angered look on his face as he looks at Luffy out of the corner of his eyes.

"What's that… You… Said?! Who's got a big nose?!" He yells as his arm separates from his body once again, and shoots towards Luffy with the knife still held in it. When it hits Luffy's face, the straw hat wearing teen's head rears backwards.

"Luffy!" Zoro yells in shock and slight fear. But despite what the swordsman thought happened, Luffy's voice can be heard a few seconds later.

"Buggy!" Luffy calls out with a slightly strained voice, before leaning his head forwards so that everyone can see that the reason he was talking like that is because he caught the knife with his teeth. "I'm gonna kick your ass." He states, before laughing and then biting down on the knife, actually snapping the metal in two as Buggy's hand flies back and reattaches to his body. However, the clown captain simply laughs at Luffy's announcement.

"You? Kick _my_ ass? You've got a lot of nerve kid. No, I'm afraid that all four of you are going to die here today by my own hand. So if you're going to do any _ass kicking_, you better do it soon." Buggy says, before going on to laugh maniacally. However, he's cut off by another voice.

"You mean like this?" Everyone turns to see Zoro and Jack standing by the cannon that the Buggy pirates were going to use to kill the First Mate… Only to see that it's now pointing at them. At this sight, Buggy and the rest of the pirates on his crew start to freak out, while Luffy simply laughs as he jumps over to stand beside the other members of his crew, Nami standing on the other side as she looks at the cannon in surprise, and then at the First Mate.

_He used the conversation as another distraction…_ She thinks to herself as Jack gives another sly smirk, and lights the fuse.

"Ah! Crap, the cannon's pointing at us!" Buggy yells as the fuse continues to burn, Jack's smirk getting a bit wider as he watches.

"And now introducing a variation of Anime Law #45…" Jack mutters with a smile, watching as the Buggy pirates continue to freak out.

"Wait! Just wait! The cannon's still loaded with a special Buggy Ball! I don't want to go out like this! Done in by my own balls!" He shouts, even as the fuse continues to burn. "I can't believe you just did that you bastard! Wait! N-n-n-no! Stop! Stop it now!" He yells at the teens by the cannon. However, it's already too late.

**_~Ka-Boom!~_**

* * *

**Author's Note Part 2: Well guys, I finally made it back to this story. So, after finishing my second chapter for my RWBY fanfiction, I figured I'd finish the second half of this, since I'd managed to write the first half before I started on that story. But now I've finished this one, so it's likely that I'll either continue this story, go back to my FT/SAO crossover so that I can update that story, or the most likely choice, continue to write my RWBY fanfiction.**

**Anyways, I guess I should go over the actual chapter, shouldn't I? Well, as you can see, this will be another OC x Nami fanfiction that I'm posting, only I'll be able to change things however I like here, and make their interactions different than how Ken is in my adopted One Piece story. Because of this, you can expect a few more situations like I had earlier between them to show up. Although, after the Arlong Arc, you can probably expect a lot more of them, whereas before that, these situations will probably only come around when the crew has down time.**

**But, how did you guys like the slight changes that I've made so far? I'll admit, for the fanfictions that I write where an extra OC is added to canon, I ****_won't_**** be changing situations that much. I'll just make it so that they turn out ****_slightly_**** differently, but not in a way that will make ****_major_**** changes over the course of the story, since I haven't watched far enough into it to be able to write out major changes, and see how that would affect canon down the line. After all, I'm not writing this in a way where the OC changes absolutely ****_everything_****, I'm just writing it out as if an extra crew member has been added.**

**But, I think that's about it for this chapter. So, here are the responses to the reviews that I've gotten!**

**DarkLord98:**

Sorry about the pairing, but I honestly wanted to write this pairing out in a way that _I _could, instead of sticking to Kendrick's story and writing it out in his personality. I just hope that this won't turn you away from the story. If it has, and you're not reading this, then I'm sorry.

**Davycrockett100:**

Thanks for the compliment! I hope you think this chapter was just as good as the last, and continue to enjoy the story as it progresses!

**Anime PJ:**

Well, first off you can already see that Jack is actually going to be paired with Nami, since that's what I've had planned for a while. After all, I want to write this pairing out in a way that I can, without having to stick to Kendrick's personality in his story.

As for Jack knowing Zoro, I'll be going over that in upcoming chapters, so you'll find out soon enough. But I think I've managed to partially answer it this chapter, if you saw how I wrote it out. And it's nice to see that you like the elements that I've put into this!

**(Totong) *Guest*:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for him breaking the fourth wall as much as Deadpool… I'm afraid not. I think that "the merc with the mouth" is the only one who can get away with it on _that_ level. But, I hope that you liked this chapter as much as the last, and will continue to like the ones that come afterwards!

**(ShadowAngel) *Guest*:**

Thanks for the compliment! As for writer's block, I agree that the only way someone can't be affected is if they have super powers. After all, I've been getting a bad case of it lately, but with summer finally starting tomorrow, that should hopefully help! (Or make it worse, I'm not entirely sure.)

**(fore) *Guest*:**

Um… I will, but it may take a while since I'm kinda jumping from story to story right now…

**Trafalar Law:**

Whoa! Hold your horses there friend! I'll reveal that in time. But I'm not gonna go revealing it in the _second chapter_! That would just be insane! I hope that you'll be able to hold on until it's revealed though, and hopefully enjoy the story as you wait.

**Well guys, that's about it for this chapter. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope to see you all next time!**


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